Strictly Come Dancing has revealed its full 2026 line-up, and it has been underwhelming. Gavin and Stacey actress Melanie Walters was the final star to be confirmed, and was a highlight of a rather lacklustre series of announcements this year.
The pressure was on BBC bosses to find a high-calibre list of stars willing to take part, as the show faces a huge change following the exits of beloved presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. But the results have been mixed, with social media content creators and hairdressers being branded worthy 'stars' for the hit dance competition, leading some viewers to call it the "worst line-up yet".
Soap stars dominate early announcements
The announcements started strong, with EastEnders legend Lacey Turner and returning star Dani Dyer (daughter of Danny Dyer) being confirmed as the first two stars. Neighbours actress and singer Delta Goodrem was named the third contestant, making it three of three with a soap connection.
Everyone loves a soap star, but with Lacey, Delta, Lawrence Robb from Emmerdale, and Jaime Winstone, who played a young Peggy Mitchell in an EastEnders spin-off, this year has really pushed the British public's loyalty to soaps to the limit.
Social media stars raise eyebrows
Things went further downhill when celebrity hairdresser Chris Appleton was named as the fifth star. I'm not sure blow-drying Kim Kardashian's hair is enough to land you a spot on one of the biggest shows on UK TV, but his 4million Instagram followers are likely to have helped seal the deal. He was joined by Cach Mercer (your guess is as good as mine), whose claim to fame is winning Love Island in 2025.
It seems their rumoured rule on 'no reality stars' has gone out of the window as long as they have enough fans on social media. The pair were joined by YouTube sports creator John Nellis, who has a whopping 15 million subscribers on his channel. Followers are important, but will the average Strictly fan know him and want to vote for him each night? I highly doubt it.
The same goes for actress Bethany Antonia, who is no doubt very talented, but I fear there will have been a lot of fans frantically googling her name when the announcement came out.
Olympians and familiar faces
The sporting trend continued with the impressive Dame Sarah Storey, our most successful Paralympian of all time, and with multiple gold medals under her belt, it will be interesting to see how she does at dancing. But did we really need two Olympians in one year? Tabby Stoecker's career has been impressive, but viewers may wonder whether she would fare better in 2027. Sadly, an Olympic gold medal doesn't automatically mean people know who you are, and people will recognise Sarah before they will her.
This year's contestants seem to be a bizarre mish-mash of bosses appealing to the young fans and loyal older viewers of the show, and sadly, never the twain shall meet. Channel 5's Dogs Behaving Very Badly star Graeme Hall and former footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips will leave teens scratching their heads, while Will Best, who may be instantly recognisable to Big Brother fans, may leave older fans asking 'who?'
There have been worse line-ups in my opinion, but with a new gaggle of presenters testing the audience's loyalty to the show this series, time will only tell if BBC bosses' gamble will pay off in viewing figures.
