Tiger King star Carole Baskin has joined the line-up of Dancing with the Stars, better known to British audiences as the US version of Strictly Come Dancing.

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The actress had previously been pegged for a spot on ITV's I'm A Celebrity 2020, a rumour that continued floating around despite her denying any interest.

Her confirmation for Dancing with the Stars definitively rules out any appearance on Ant and Dec's extreme survival show, as the two programmes run at the same time.

Baskin made a splash back in March, as a world in lockdown tuned into Tiger King on Netflix and learned about her bitter feud with zookeeper Joe Exotic.

Animal rights activist Baskin had objected to Exotic's treatment of wild animals and aimed to get his zoo shut down, but this painted a target on her back.

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Exotic is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for a murder-for-hire plot against Baskin as well as for a number of animal abuse charges.

She has since been handed control of Exotic's old zoo by a federal judge, but has been forced to close her own amid the coronavirus pandemic and fears that her animals could be purposefully harmed.

"Tiger King really glamourized animal abusers and villainized me for trying to stop animal abuse so I felt really betrayed by that," Baskin told Good Morning America. "But what amazed me was how many people believed that false portrayal of me without doing anything to find out who I really am so it’s been a nightmare since Tiger King aired."

She added: "The biggest thing for me is that the longer that my partner and I can stay in the competition, it will keep the cats forefront in the viewer’s eye and to me, that was where Tiger King missed the ball.

"It really should have been focused on the animals so I'm hoping Dancing with the Stars will do that."

Another Netflix reality star, Selling Sunset's Chrishell Stause, will be joining her on the Ballroom competition, along with rap artist Nelly.

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Tiger King is available to stream on Netflix. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our guide to the best series on Netflix and best movies on Netflix, or visit our TV Guide.

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