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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Karen Hauer shows off new hair in moody boxing snap with show's new professional dancer

Professional dancer Karen Hauer looked sensational as she showed off her new hair in a photoshoot with one of Strictly Come Dancing's newest professional dancers.

The Venezuelan dancer, 40, has posed with European cup winner Vito Coppola who is one of four new dancers making their way to the ballroom later this month when the BBC One dancing contest returns to screens for the 20th series.

He joins Chinese national champion Carlos Gu, former Under-21 British national champion Lauren Oakley and Latin dance champion Michelle Tsiakkas as new additions to the now 20-strong professional line-up.

READ MORE: Vernon Kay details Tess Daly's pre-Strictly Come Dancing prep at home and says when she'll quit

In newly released pictures ahead of Strictly 2022, which launches on September 17, Karen can be seen donning a black sports bra showing off her rock-hard abs with a pair of long black and white boxing shorts. Giving a smouldering look to the camera, the dancer places her arm on her co-star's shoulder, showing her hands wrapped up.

Fans are used to seeing Karen sporting a cropped pixie cut but she had undergone a change and has been sporting a brand new hairstyle of late. The image, taken in a boxing ring, sees Karen wearing her hair in blonde ringlets while Vito showed off his muscular figure in matching shorts and trainers.

Vito has won numerous titles around the world and is an 11-time Latin American champion. And he is no stranger to TV dance programmes either, winning the Italian version of Strictly last year. It came after he left the competition world as one of its highest ranking athletes to explore on-screen opportunities.

Strictly's Karen Hauer with new dancer Vito Coppola (Robin Lee-Perrella)

Carlos, Lauren, and Michelle have also been seen in a series of first-look snaps, donning a variety of exotic outfits hinting at a possible Cuban-inspired routine.

The four new professional dancers join the returning Dianne Buswell, Nadiya Bychkova, Graziano Di Prima, Amy Dowden, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Nikita Kuzmin, Cameron Lombard, Gorka Marquez, Luba Mushtuk, Giovanni Pernice, Jowita Przystal, Johannes Radebe, Kai Widdrington and Nancy Xu.

They will be introduced to viewers in a cinematic dance routine filmed alongside the returning Strictly cast. The routine will form part of the Strictly Come Dancing launch show airing on BBC One on September 17.

The new Strictly Come Dancing professional dancers (Robin Lee-Perrella)

The signings come after a number of exits from Strictly were announced earlier in the year. Fans were left gutted when show favourite Aljaz Skorjanec announced that he was quitting after nine years. His exit comes after his wife, Janette Manrara, also left the show as a professional dancer before the 2021 series and became a host of its BBC Two spin-off, It Takes Two.

Aljaz's announcement also came weeks after Oti Mabuse, who has lifted the Glitterball trophy twice during her seven years on the show, also announced she was set to leave after bagging a place on the Dancing On Ice judging panel and landing her own ITV dating show.

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