It feels like it's been a long time since we saw a bunch of famous faces strutting their stuff in the ballroom, but the wait for Strictly Come Dancing 2022 is almost over.
The sparkly juggernaut is heading back to screens, filling our Saturday night's with glitz and glam and plenty of moving and shaking from 15 celebrities - including Corrie actors, an 80s music legend and a former Britain's Got Talent child star - and their professional parters.
The Strictly journey - and road to Christmas - will officially begin when the launch show airs on Friday, September 23 at 7pm on BBC One. This will be followed by the first live show on Saturday, September 23, at 6.45pm.
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Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will be back to host the show and keep the Strictly ship running as smoothly as possible every Saturday night. And the show wouldn't be complete without the judges as Anton Du Beke will once again take his place on the panel alongside Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and head judge Shirley Ballas.
Here are the 15 celebrities who will be donning their dancing shoes this autumn in the hopes of winning the Strictly Glitterball trophy:
Helen Skelton
Helen Skelton completed the line-up, being the las celebrity to be announced for the upcoming series. Fans will best know the TV presenter and radio broadcaster for shows such as Countryfile and Blue Peter.
And the 39-year-old is also no stranger to a challenge, having some incredible challenges, including completing the Namibia Ultra Marathon, cycling to the South Pole and kayaking over 2018 miles down the Amazon River during her five years on Blue Peter.
Helen has presented shows across various channels, including Countryfile, several major sporting events for BBC Sport, ITV’s Lorraine, BT Sport’s FA Women’s Super League football matches, Channel 4’s Rugby league Super league coverage and Inside The Superbrands in addition to the highly successful On The Farm series for Channel 5 and being a regular on ITV Tonight.
As a radio presenter, Helen has stood in for Dermot O’Leary and OJ Borg on BBC Radio 2, hosted various shows across BBC Radio 5 Live and has just been announced as the host of the new-look BBC Radio 5 Live Sunday morning show.
James Bye
James Bye was the fourteenth celebrity contestant confirmed for the brand new series of Strictly Come Dancing. The EastEnders actor is best known for playing Martin Fowler in the BBC One soap.
After being unveiled on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, the 38-year-old said: "I’m not known for my shimmy or my twinkle toes – in fact, my kids regularly laugh at my dad dancing but it’s an honour to be asked and I’m going to give it my best shot. There are some huge dance shoes to fill and it’s truly exciting to follow in the footsteps of some amazing EastEnders talent. I’d love to do everyone proud."
Hamza Yassin
Hamza Yassin was the thirteenth celebrity contestant confirmed for Strictly 2022. He is a wildlife cameraman and presenter was is known for being one of the presenters of BBC’s Animal Park and a guest presenter on BBC’s Countryfile where he shares his vast knowledge and camera skills.
Hamza is also well known to younger viewers under the guise of Ranger Hamza, presenting CBeebies live-action show Let’s Go For A Walk and his new series Ranger Hamza’s Eco Quest is out later this month. Hamza moved to the Scottish Highlands when he was younger to follow his dream of filming Scottish wildlife and becoming a wildlife cameraman. He has lived there ever since and recently fronted Channel 4 documentary Scotland: My Life in the Wild and Scotland: Escape to the Wilderness.
Fleur East
Fleur East has also joined the line-up for this years Strictly. She was the 12th contestant to be confirmed for the upcoming series and made the announcement on her Hits Radio Breakfast show.
Fleur also emotionally shared when she was announced for the show: "Unfortunately my Dad is no longer with us but I know he will be watching over the ballroom in spirit. I’m doing this to make him and my family proud and can’t wait to get my dancing shoes on!"
After coming runner-up in series 11 of The X Factor, Fleur has been a regular face in the world of music and broadcasting. As a singer she has released two albums, with European chart hit single 'Sax' reaching number three in the UK singles chart. After appearing on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here in 2018 she became host of the Hits Radio Breakfast show which she hosts every weekday.
Tony Adams
Tony Adams MBE has also been confirmed for the brand new series of Strictly Come Dancing ahead of its return to screens. He is a former English football player and manager. The formidable centre-back’s football career spanned over 22 years, playing for both Arsenal and England.
Having captained both, he is regarded as one of Arsenal’s greatest ever players and one of the all-time greats of English football. Tony Adams MBE won 66 caps for England, appeared at four major tournaments and had 10 major trophy wins whilst is still the only player in English football history to captain a team to three top-flight titles over three different decades. As captain of England, he famously led the national team to the Euro 96 final. Whilst he was playing he founded Sporting Chance, a charity to help sportspeople with mental health and addiction issues of which he remains Honorary president today.
Upon retirement from football, Tony, a father to six and husband to wife Poppy, went into coaching and management before recently launching his new venture, SIX MHS, which delivers Mental Health and Addictions services to non-sportspeople and non-sport’s organisations. He remains a patron of four other additional charities, NACOA, Forward Trust, Saving Faces, School Home Support and has started the charity, 6 Addiction, for people that can’t afford private mental health services.
Molly Rainford
Singer and actress Molly Rainford was the 10th contestant to be confirmed for the BBC one show. She appeared in series six of Britain’s Got Talent when she was 11-years-old which saw Ashley and Pudsey take the crown, and finished in sixth place.
She is best known for becoming the youngest ever finalist of Britain's Got Talent at the age of 11 back in 2012. She is currently starring as intergalactic pop superstar Nova Jones in the hit CBBC show Nova Jones.
Ellie Taylor
Ellie Taylor's Strictly secret was revealed by Ranvir Singh on ITV's Lorraine. She was the ninth contestant confirmed for the brand new series due to begin in September
Comedian, broadcaster, writer and actor Ellie began her career as a stand-up comedian after appearing on ITV’s Show Me The Funny and has gone on to write and perform five stand-up comedy shows, one of which, Cravings, streamed on Netflix as part of Comedians of the World. Ellie is known as a regular on the BBC’s Mock The Week, The Mash Report and Live at the Apollo, Late Night Mash on Dave and, most recently, as a co-host on Channel 4’s The Great Pottery Throw Down. She also stars in Apple TV’s multi-award winning comedy series Ted Lasso.
Her forthcoming projects include two brand-new formats as she presents You Won’t Believe This for Channel 4 and co-hosts Cheat alongside Danny Dyer, which is coming soon to Netflix.
Matt Goss
Matt Goss was the eighth celebrity contestant confirmed for the upcoming season of Strictly. The singer-songwriter, musician and actor had his big reveal on This Morning with hosts Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle quizzing him on his upcoming gig.
Eighties music legend Matt has enjoyed mega success as the frontman of BROS, with their debut album Push going platinum seven times. It remained on the UK top ten music charts for an astonishing 54 weeks. And with continued success as a solo artist, Matt is about to release his solo album, The Beautiful Unknown.
Over the last decade, Matt has had a record-breaking residency on the Las Vegas strip. He has received the revered 'Icon Award' and has even been given his own 'Matt Goss Day' on August 8, which amazingly is his late mother’s birthday and now the day he was announced for Strictly.
Tyler West
Tyler West was the next celebrity contestant confirmed for the brand new series of Strictly Come Dancing.The TV presenter, radio host and DJ is best known for hosting weekday afternoons on KISS, for which he was nominated for a prestigious ARIA for Best New Presenter in 2020.
Having begun his broadcasting career in children’s television, presenting various programming across CBBC, he has hosted MTV News, HQ Trivia and the 2020 EE BAFTA Awards Red Carpet Live Show. Last year he launched his first BBC Three series, co-hosting Flat out Fabulous as well as becoming the host of The MTV Movie Show.
Ellie Simmonds
Ellie Simmonds OBE was the sixth contestant confirmed for Strictly. Ellie is best known as a gold medal-winning Paralympic swimmer and at the age of thirteen became the youngest British athlete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, winning gold medals in the 100m and 400m freestyle events.
In 2012 she achieved gold in the 400m freestyle and the 200m Individual Medley at the Summer Paralympics in London and won a further gold in the 200m Individual Medley at Rio 2016. In addition she has won ten gold World Championship titles.
After retiring from competitive swimming in 2020, Ellie has gone on to present for BBC Sport, most recently for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, as well as making documentaries such as Ellie Simmonds: A World Without Dwarfism? for BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Jayde Adams
Comedian Jayde Adams is among the celebrities battling it out to become dance champions this series. Jayde has won several comedy awards including a nomination for the coveted Best Newcomer with her Edinburgh Fringe debut stand-up hour.
Her Amazon Prime special, Serious Black Jumper, received global critical acclaim, was released worldwide and was longlisted for an Emmy. Also an actor, Jayde has starred in BBC Two BAFTA winning comedy Alma’s Not Normal, the upcoming Take That movie Greatest Days, Amazon Prime’s Good Omens, and BBC One’s The Outlaws, while she is co-creator and star of ITV2’s upcoming brand new series Ruby Speaking.
Jayde also hosted Netflix’s Crazy Delicious, co-hosted Channel 4’s BAFTA nominated Snackmasters and has a weekly BBC Radio 4 podcast, Welcome to the Neighbourhood.
Kaye Adams
Loose Woman Kaye Adams will be getting her groove on for the twentieth series of Strictly Come Dancing. Kaye is a broadcaster and as well as being a Loose Women panellist, she's known for hosting the morning show on BBC Radio Scotland.
Having started her career as a news journalist she has presented programming for various TV channels including STV, the BBC and Channel 5. She started her popular podcast, How To Be 60 with Kaye Adams, in 2022.
Richie Anderson
Richie Anderson was the third contestant confirmed for the brand new series of Strictly Come Dancing. He is an award-winning presenter, best known for his well-established role on BBC Radio 2’s Breakfast Show, presenting the travel bulletins as well as hosting a wide variety of his own shows.
In May Richie travelled to Turin to cover the Eurovision Song Contest for the station. A regular presenter on The One Show, he is often seen on BBC One and was proud to be part of the channel’s recent Platinum Jubilee coverage.
Kym Marsh
After years of consideration Kym Marsh will finally be taking to the ballroom. The former Hear'Say singer and Coronation Street actress has said her previous experience in dance would be unlikely to help her on the show.
During an appearance on BBC Breakfast as she was announced as the second contestant for the 20th series, the 46-year-old was asked what style of dance she was most excited for, she said: "I am just very keen to learn. Watching it, I have done dancing before when I was a little girl and in Hear’Say but it was a very different style of dance."
The soap star, who spent 13 years playing Michelle Connor in ITV's Corriesaid her husband, army major Scott Ratcliff, was "extremely excited" about her being about to teach him how to dance properly so they can dance together at mess balls.
Will Mellor
Will Mellor was the first famous faces to be announced for Strictly 2022. The actor is known for starring as Gaz in cult Noughties sitcom Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps as well as for his roles in Hollyoaks and more recently Coronation Street where he play Weatherfield baddie Harvey Gaskell.
The 46-year-old said Strictly is his mother Shirley's favourite show and that following the death of his father in 2020 from cancer he wanted to create new memories.
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