Strictly Come Dancing announces couples for 2025 in launch show

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Tonight’s launch show of *Strictly Come Dancing* revealed which celebrities will be paired with the professional dancers.

The popular dance competition is back for 2025! Fifteen new celebrities will be competing, and each will be paired with a professional dancer for the next three months.

This year’s first couple is TV personality Ross King, who will be dancing with Jowita Przystał. They’ve revealed their opening dance will be a cha cha cha to Katy Perry’s ‘California Girls’.

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Actor Lewis Cope, who previously played Nicky Milligan on the soap opera *Emmerdale*, has been partnered with Katya Jones for the upcoming season. Dani Dyer, famous for winning *Love Island* in 2018, will be dancing with Nikita Kuzmin.

I’m so excited for the next season! It’s been announced that Chris Robshaw, the rugby player, is going to be paired with Nadiya Bychkova, and I’m also thrilled to hear that La Voix, from RuPaul’s Drag Race, will be dancing with Aljaž Škorjanec. What a lineup!

Reality star Vicki Pattison will be dancing with Kai Widdrington, and actor Alex Kingston has partnered with Johannes Radebe.

Ellie Goldstein, an actor and model, is making history as the first contestant with Down syndrome on the show. She’ll be dancing with professional dancer Vito Coppola.

I’m so excited for Balvinder Sopal from *EastEnders*! She’s always dreamed of being on *Strictly Come Dancing* – she said it’s been a twenty-year goal! She’s been paired with Julian Caillon, who’s new to the show this year, and they’re going to be dancing a samba to ‘Shake Shake Shake (Shake Your Booty)’ by KC & The Sunshine Band for their first dance. It sounds amazing!

So, for this new show, they’ve teamed up some interesting pairs! I heard they’re putting football legend Karen Carney with Carlos Gu, which should be fun to watch. And get this – Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, the Gladiator, is partnered with dancer Karen Hauer. I’m already curious to see how these teams will do!

Stefan Dennis, known for his long-running role on *Neighbours*, is partnering with Dianne Buswell, the professional dancer who won last year’s competition with Chris McCausland. Also joining the show is influencer George Clarke, who’s been practicing by watching videos of past *Strictly Come Dancing* mishaps. He’ll be paired with Alexis Warr, the second new professional dancer this season.

Retired soccer player Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is partnering with Lauren Oakley on the dance floor. Completing the celebrity pairings for this season of the show is Thomas Skinner, known from *The Apprentice*, who will be dancing with Amy Dowden.

The couples performed their first group dance of the season, set to a mix of songs by Rosé, Bruno Mars, Charli XCX, and Chappell Roan. Judge Shirley Ballas encouraged the contestants to approach each dance with a positive mindset and to focus on the performance, not their own pride. We’ll find out if they take her advice when the first couples dances air live next Saturday, September 27th.

You can watch Strictly Come Dancing on Saturdays on BBC One. For extra content and behind-the-scenes footage, tune into Strictly: It Takes Two on weeknights on BBC Two. Both programs are also available to stream on demand via BBC iPlayer.

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2025-09-20 23:19