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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Lisa McLoughlin

Strictly Come Dancing confirm Gladiators and former Olympian Montell Douglas for 2024 series

Gladiators star Montell Douglas is the twelfth celebrity contestant confirmed for the upcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing.

The multi-award-winning show will return to BBC One for its news series this Autumn as the BBC series celebrates two spectacular decades of dance.

On Friday it was announced that Douglas, who goes by Fire on Gladiators, was the latest celebrity to join the line-up.

The sports star has had an impressive athletic career, having competed as both an Olympic bobsledder and a Team GB sprinter.

In 2010, she won Commonwealth Gold in the 4x100m relay and held the British women’s record for the fastest 100m sprint.

Her participation in the Beijing Winter Olympics as part of the bobsledding team secured her place in sporting history, making her the first female UK athlete to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

She said of the news: “Strictly ARE YOU READY, Fire is here to light up the Ballroom.

“Wow I am so honoured to have been asked to do the show. It is such an amazing thing to be a part of and I can’t wait to get started.

“Hopefully a few of my Gladiator moves will come in handy with the Tango or Paso Doble!”

The news was revealed on Friday on the set of Gladiators filming at the Sheffield Utilita Arena, her bespoke Roblox character was also revealed on the platform on BBC Wonder Chase.

Douglas joins an already star-studded line-up, including Love Island's Tasha Ghouri, TOWIE's Pete Wicks, comedian Chris McCausland, JLS singer JB Gill, 80s rocker Toyah Wilcox, Morning Live's Dr. Punam Krishnan, and singer Wynne Evans.

On Thursday, Corrie star Shayne Ward, actress Sarah Hadlands, swimmer Tom Dean and EastEnders’ Jamie Borthwick were also confirmed for the upcoming series.

The 2024 series is set to be a glittering affair celebrating 20 years of the show on BBC. Although, this year fans have declared the line-up so far as “underwhelming” and “disappointing”.

The BBC series also faced another setback as two of their stars, Nick Knowles, and Arsenal legend Paul Merson, were seen arriving at rehearsals in London on Friday before the show had officially announced their participation.

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