It’s sink or swim time on Strictly as Ellie & Co take their partners
STRICTLY returned belatedly to our screens last night as the show’s 15 celebrities were paired with their professional dance partners.
And after featuring one samesex couple for each of the past two years, the competition has gone one better with an allmale and an all-female pairing.
BBC Radio 2 presenter Richie Anderson, 34, is partnered with Giovanni Pernice. The Italian dancer lifted the trophy last year with the first deaf contestant, soap star Rose Ayling-Ellis.
And comedian Jayde Adams will dance with Karen Hauer in a partnership the professional described as a ‘golden moment’. In last night’s pre-recorded launch show, delayed a week after the death of the Queen, Miss Hauer said: ‘I’m absolutely excited, I have so many ideas, too many ideas, this is going to be a golden moment for me.’
They follow in the footsteps of boxer Nicola Adams, who was onehalf of the show’s first ever samesex pairing with Katya Jones in 2020, and baker John Whaite who reached the final with Johannes Radebe last year.
Ellie Simmonds, who has dwarfism, was the first celebrity to be paired up on last night’s show. The Paralympian swimmer will compete with Nikita Kuzmin, who said his goal is to give Miss Simmonds, 27, ‘the best time of her life’.
Miss Simmonds said it means ‘everything’ to ‘represent not just dwarfism but disability in general’.
Comedian Ellie Taylor, 38, will perform with Radebe, while singer Matt Goss, 53, who said he was ready to be ‘Strictlyfied’, has been paired up with Nadiya Bychkova. Former Coronation Street stars Kym Marsh and Will Mellor, both 46, will dance with Graziano Di Prima and Nancy Xu, respectively.
Helen Skelton, 39, who said her children’s tantrums have prepared her for Craig Revel Horwood, has been partnered with Gorka Marquez while radio presenter Fleur East, 34, will be hoping for victory with newcomer Vito Coppola.
CBBC’s Molly Rainford, 21, is paired with Carlos Gu, and Loose Women panellist Kaye Adams will dance with Kai Widdrington.
The Scottish presenter, 59, told the Daily Mail she said she signed up to feel sexy and less ‘inhibited and uptight’, but joked that she doesn’t need to be a ‘sex machine’.
‘At my age, I don’t need my body to be like a sex machine to attract people. That’s not the stage in my life that I’m at.
‘So it’s more about how I feel inside that I would like to try and shift the dial a little bit,’ she said.
Last night’s show opened with a ballroom performance from this year’s professional dancers, with viewers given a first look at newcomers Coppola, Gu, Lauren Oakley and Michelle Tsiakkas.
The 15 couples will return to the ballroom tonight for their first live dances. Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One at 6.45pm.