Melissa Katherine Rycroft-Strickland (more commonly referred to as Melissa Rycroft, born March 11, 1983) is an American dancer, reality television personality, and former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. She participated as a bachelorette on the thirteenth season of ABC's The Bachelor, on the CMT reality TV series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team, and on the eighth and fifteenth seasons of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Rycroft went on to host reality-TV competition shows such as Bachelor Pad and Redneck Island.