Melissa Rycroft is an American reality television personality. Melissa Rycroft began her career by joining the reality competition “Dallas Cowboys Cheeleaders: Making the Team” on the CMT network. She was selected as one of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders for the 2006 NFL Season, and she remained on the squad until the 2007 NFL Season.

Melissa Rycroft later gained widespread fame when she joined another reality TV competition, this time on the thirteenth season of “The Bachelor.” Melissa Rycroft was among the twenty-five bachelorettes who were up to win the heart of The Bachelor, Jason Mesnick. At the end of the season, Mesnick chose Melissa Rycroft and proposed to be her husband, to which she said yes. However, in the following episode, it was revealed that Mesnick was still in love with runner-up Molly Malaney, thus prompting him to break up with Melissa Rycroft.

Soon after, Melissa Rycroft took over the place of Nancy O’Dell as a contestant in the reality celebrity dance competition “Dancing with the Stars.” O’Dell had to withdraw from the contest due to an injury she sustained during the rehearsals for the show. Melissa Rycroft teamed up with professional dancer, Tony Dovolani, and they finished third in the final episode of “Dancing with the Stars.”

In June 2009, Melissa Rycroft joined the morning talk show “Good Morning America” as a special presenter for the summer season. Melissa Rycroft is listed as one of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People of 2009 and Maxim’s Hot 100 of 2009.