Strictly contestants 2024: From soap stars to a gold medal Olympian
The BBC One dance competition series is returning to screens in autumn
Strictly Come Dancing’s 20th-anniversary series is set to welcome its first blind contestant, an Olympic champion and soap stars – all hoping to lift the glitterball trophy.
Here is a look at who will be stepping onto the dancefloor for the BBC One show when it returns to TV screens this autumn:
– Jamie Borthwick
Jamie Borthwick and Danielle Harold attend the British Soap Awards 2023
Borthwick, who was the 2023 winner of the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special, along with Nancy Xu, is known for playing Jay Brown on BBC soap opera EastEnders.
The 30-year-old won the best actor gong at the Inside Soap Awards in September 2023, a year in which the soap dominated the awards, recognised with the best storyline for Loving And Losing Lola, about Lola Pearce-Brown’s brain tumour diagnosis.
As part of the storyline, Borthwick as Jay (Lola’s husband) and Emma Barton, as Honey Mitchell, ran the London Marathon in character, in honour of Lola, following her death.
– Sarah Hadland
Sarah Hadland is most known for her role in Miranda
The English actress is most known for her roles in comedy programmes including Miranda, Horrible Histories, That Mitchell And Webb Look and Ballot Monkeys.
In Miranda Hart’s eponymous sitcom, which ran from 2009 to 2015, she played her best friend and sidekick Stevie.
She has appeared in the Daniel Craig-starring James Bond film Quantum Of Solace, comedy film Magicians and comedy Learners starring David Tennant.
– Shayne Ward
Shayne Ward with his best exit award attending the Inside Soap Awards 2018
Actor and musician Ward rose to fame after winning the second season of TV singing competition The X Factor and later went on to star in ITV soap Coronation Street as former Underworld factory owner Aidan Connor.
Ward’s Coronation Street character’s depression storyline earned a best single episode and the best storyline gong at the 2019 British Soap Awards as well as a best soap exit honour at the 2018 Inside Soap Awards.
The 39-year-old has also been seen in West End musical Rock Of Ages, had a Christmas number one with his first single, That’s My Goal, and also entered the charts with No Promises and Stand By Me.
– Chris McCausland
Chris McCausland will be the show’s first blind contestant
The comedian is the first blind contestant to compete on the show.
McCausland lost his sight because of retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary eye disease, which causes gradual degeneration of the retina.
Following the Strictly announcement, the 47-year-old joked he must be the only contestant to participate in the show who has “never watched” it before.
The Liverpool-born comedian has hosted his own show on ITV on Saturday mornings and has also featured on panel shows such as Have I Got News For You, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown and QI.
– JB Gill
JB Gill previously appeared on the Strictly Christmas special in 2012
The singer rose to fame as part of boy band JLS – alongside Marvin Humes, Aston Merrygold and Oritse Williams – after they were runners-up on The X Factor in 2008.
The group went on to secure five UK number one singles, a UK number one album and embarked on numerous UK tours.
Following the band’s initial 2013 break-up, Gill later presented the BBC’s Songs Of Praise and he returned to the group when it reunited in 2020.
The 37-year-old also previously performed the jive with professional dancer Ola Jordan to Rockin’ Robin on the Strictly Christmas special in 2012.
– Tom Dean
Olympic champion Tom Dean picked up a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Games, defending his 4x200m freestyle relay title
The British swimmer confirmed he had signed up for the dancing competition after reaching the final of the men’s 200 metres individual medley last Thursday night.
The three-time Olympic champion intends to seek out the wisdom of his Team GB team-mate Adam Peaty, who finished ninth on the BBC show in 2021.
He said: “Naturally you want to take a break after you’ve had a full Olympic cycle and the opportunity arose. I thought it would be really exciting to try something a bit different.”
Dean won the men’s 200m freestyle title at Tokyo 2020 and, last week, the 24-year-old from Bath, plus James Guy, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott, made history in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay final.
In winning gold, they became the first swimming team ever to defend an Olympic relay title with the same quartet.
– Wynne Evans
Wynne Evans is known to many as the ‘Go Compare man’
Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans is best known as the moustachioed tenor from the Go Compare adverts.
Born in Carmarthen, he was also crowned Celebrity MasterChef champion for 2023 and is a presenter on BBC Radio Wales.
Throughout his 25-year career, he has had two number one classical music albums, has been a principal at many major opera houses around the world and has delivered more than 200 performances at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
– Toyah Willcox
Toyah Willcox is a singer and actress
The singer and actress fronted the new wave band Toyah in the late 1970s and early 1980s, before embarking on a solo music career.
She has also performed in numerous stage productions and featured in various films including 1978 drama Jubilee, 2015 horror comedy Aaaaaaaah! and 2019 sci-fi Invasion Planet Earth.
In 2018, Sir Paul McCartney presented Willcox with a Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts Companionship for outstanding achievement in music, drama, performance and media.
Earlier this year, she played at the Glastonbury Festival with her husband, musician Robert Fripp, on the Avalon Stage.
– Dr Punam Krishan
NHS GP Dr Punam Krishan is the resident doctor for Morning Live on the BBC
Alongside her work as an NHS GP, Dr Krishan is the resident doctor on the BBC breakfast programme Morning Live and BBC Radio Scotland’s phone-in surgery.
She also regularly reports on health news as a broadcaster on TV, radio and national newspapers.
The TV doctor previously co-hosted a podcast titled The Medic Mum and is the author of the children’s non-fiction book How To Be A Doctor And Other Life-Saving Jobs.
– Tasha Ghouri
Tasha Ghouri and Andrew Le Page
The Love Island star, 25, who was the ITV2 show’s first deaf contestant in 2022, has since become a campaigner for the deaf community and worked with 10 Downing Street and the Department for Education.
Ghouri, who was born deaf and uses a cochlear implant, met boyfriend Andrew Le Page on the reality dating show and hosts the podcast Superpowers With Tasha.
The trained dancer hosted a beginners’ tap class with Strictly professional Johannes Radebe at a community hall in Cambridge, watched by the Queen, in February.
– Pete Wicks
I’m A Celeb… winner Sam Thompson and Pete Wicks )
The 35-year-old began his career in reality TV on ITVBe series The Only Way Is Essex in 2015 before moving on to other shows.
He has since appeared on Channel 4’s Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, where he withdrew early on on medical grounds, E4’s Celebs Go Dating, BBC’s Celebrity MasterChef and ITV’s The Real Full Monty.
Wicks also was among the celebrities trying to help one contestant succeed in recent Channel 4 series The Underdog: Josh Must Win, and hosts a podcast called Staying Relevant with I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! winner Sam Thompson.
The Press Association
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