The countdown for the upcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing has officially begun. BBC viewers can expect to see a plethora of famous faces making their way onto the dancefloor this year. More recently, Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey was confirmed as the seventh celebrity taking part in the long-running competition.
She'll be joining the likes of Radio star Will Best, Love Island's Cach Mercer, hair stylist Chris Appleton, singer Delta Goodrem, reality star Dani Dyer and EastEnders Lacey Turner. While there are more names to get released over the course of the next few weeks, there's one famous face who won't be joining the show any time soon.
Ben Shephard's Strictly Ban
This Morning's Ben Shephard has opened up in the past about the reason why he won't take part in Strictly, joking he's been banned from it because of his wife. A few years ago, while speaking to Andi Peters on Good Morning Britain, Ben shared: "Andi, I would love to do Strictly. As you know, I spent three years in university learning to dance, I have a degree in dance - it doesn't make me a good dancer, obviously. But my wife really doesn't want me to do Strictly, I've spoken about it very publicly, but she's not interested in me having an affair."
He added: "I think she's being very narrow-minded and it could be a great opportunity, who knows what could happen? It would be an amazing experience, I love a bit of spangle and glamour on a Saturday night. As things stand, though, that's a negotiation that needs to happen between the BBC and my wife. I can get myself into a lot of trouble here."
New Presenters and Line-Up Changes
While there may be a little longer to see the complete line-up, fans can expect to see three new faces this autumn as Emma Willis, Strictly pro Johannes Radebe and comedian Josh Widdicombe will preside over the ballroom antics. As the show bid farewell to Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daley, a number of professional dancers also won't be returning, such as Karen Hauer, Gorka Márquez, Nadiya Bychkova, Luba Mushtuk, and Michelle Tsiakkas.
However, it's been confirmed Dianne Buswell, Julian Caillon, Amy Dowden, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Nikita Kuzmin, Jowita Przystał, Aljaž Škorjanec, Alexis Warr, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley and Vito Coppola will return to the dancefloor. Strictly Come Dancing will air on BBC One this autumn.
