BIOGRAPHYMelissa Katherine Rycroft-Strickland was born March 11, 1983, from Dallas, Texas, is a reality television contestant and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. She was a drill team officer at Newman Smith High School in Carrollton, Texas where she graduated in 2001. She participated as a contestant on the thirteenth season of ABC's The Bachelor, and CMT reality TV series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team. She was also a contestant on the eighth season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars.Rycroft was named to People magazine's list of World's Most Beautiful People 2009 and was also named as #99 on Maxim's list of "Hot 100 of 2009"
Melissa was previously engaged to Jason Mesnick whom she met on The Bachelor. They ended their relationship after Jason admitted to still having feelings for runner-up, Molly. She then began dating Tye Strickland, whom she had dated on and off for two years. In June 2009 she announced via Twitter that she and Tye were engaged. They married on December 12, 2009, in Mexico. On October 20, 2010, Rycroft announced on CBS's The Talk that she will be having a baby girl. On February 16, 2011, Melissa gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Ava Grace Strickland
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