‘STRICTLY COME DANCING’

THE FAVOURITE STARS AND NEW FACES SET TO LIGHT UP OUR TV SCREENS

The hit show’s professional dancers line up to introduce 12 pages of toe-tapping coverage

Dressed to the nines and dripping in their trademark sequins, Strictly Come Dancing’s professionals are back to their glamorous best as they prepare to return to our screens this weekend.

While many of the familiar faces are back – including Karen Hauer, Oti Mabuse and Aljaz Skorjanec – there are also four new dancers in the form of Kai Widdrington, Nikita Kuzmin, Cameron Lombard and Jowita Przystal, who won last year’s series of The Greatest Dancer. Meanwhile, Anton Du Beke has left the line-up to join the judging panel and Janette Manrara has side-stepped over to present spin-off show It Takes Two.

The 18 dancers have been busy rehearsing and pre- recording group numbers, staying in a hotel together as part of Covid safeguards. But this series will once again be full-length, after being cut short last year, and there will also be a return of a studio audience, albeit limited in numbers.

Turn over to read our exclusive interview with Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies and hear what her fellow contestants have to say about joining the show.

The 18 dancers have been busy rehearsing and pre-recording group numbers

The professionals (standing from left to right): Graziano Di Prima, Nancy Xu, Giovanni Pernice, Oti Mabuse, Cameron Lombard, Nadiya Bychkova, Gorka Márquez, Jowita Przystal, Dianne Buswell, Nikita Kuzmin, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Amy Dowden, Kai Widdrington and Luba Mushtuk; and (seated) Karen Hauer, Aljaz Skorjanec and Johannes Radebe