Amy Dowden has withdrawn from this year's series of Strictly Come Dancing to recover from a foot injury, with the news confirmed during Monday's episode of spin-off show Strictly It Takes Two.
The professional dancer, who missed the previous series after being diagnosed with breast cancer, will be replaced by fellow professional Lauren Oakley as the dance partner for celebrity contestant JB Gill, best known as a member of boyband JLS.
A Strictly spokesperson said: "Sadly, Amy Dowden MBE will not be partaking in the rest of the competition this year. While Amy focuses on her recovery following a foot injury, fellow professional dancer Lauren Oakley will step in as JB's dance partner. The health and wellbeing of everyone involved in Strictly are always the utmost priority. The whole Strictly family sends Amy love and well wishes."
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Dowden said: "My heart is breaking right now." She described how she had finally felt like herself again, writing that cancer was no longer the first thing she thought of when she woke up. "It was choreography, music choices, which dances in which order, what we needed to work on. I felt free again." She added that her goal since hearing the words "You have cancer" had been to get back on the Strictly dancefloor, a challenge she devoted 2024 to.
Dowden had previously been open about her health struggles, revealing in February that tests showed there was "no evidence of disease" and later fronting a BBC programme about her condition. She also spoke last year about contracting sepsis during cancer treatment, describing herself as "very unlucky", and has documented living with Crohn's disease in the documentary Strictly Amy: Crohn's And Me.
Oakley partnered Gill in Saturday's live show for a Bruno Mars-inspired performance, with the duo scoring the joint highest of this year's series for the routine.
