Strictly Come Dancing professional Lauren Oakley will perform with JB Gill for the rest of this year’s competition while his previous partner Amy Dowden recovers from an injury.
Oakley, 33, initially stepped in for Dowden, 34, temporarily after the Welsh star was hospitalised shortly after the Halloween week live show.
However, on Monday, November 4, a “heartbroken” Dowden told fans she won’t be able to return to the BBC ballroom this year.
Dowden missed the 2023 season of Strictly after being diagnosed with breast cancer but triumphantly returned this year.
The Welsh dancer received her first diagnosis of stage three breast cancer in May 2023 after discovering a lump in her breast the day before her honeymoon.
After receiving a second diagnosis of "another type of cancer" later that year, she started chemotherapy.
In August 2024, doctors were concerned about irregularities found in her breast during a check-up. She was referred for additional hospital testing but given the all-clear.
Dowden also has Crohn's disease, a chronic illness that results in inflammation of certain sections of the digestive system.
But what do we know about her replacement, Lauren Oakley?
Who is Lauren Oakley?
Born in Birmingham, Oakley has been dancing since the age of two.
She began competing in ballroom and Latin at age seven, winning both disciplines and becoming the juvenile champion at the Blackpool Dance Festival.
Oakley has performed as the leading lady in Giovanni Pernice and Anton Du Beke's national tour Him & Me and travelled the world with the live dance spectacle Burn the Floor. She also starred in Pernice's solo tour This Is Me.
Oakley joined Strictly Come Dancing as a professional dancer in 2022.
Who has she previously been paired with on Strictly Come Dancing?
For her debut series, Oakley joined the ensemble cast and participated in the professional group routines, without being given a celebrity partner.
In 2023, though, she stepped into the spotlight when paired with Channel 4 newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
The pair made it to the eighth week of the competition, leaving after losing a dance-off to Kai Widdrington and Angela Rippon.
Before stepping in to dance with Gill, Oakley did not have a celebrity partner this year.
How long will she replace Amy Dowden for?
Oakley is replacing Dowden for the rest of the series.
Sharing her sadness at being unable to continue on the show, Dowden wrote on Instagram: “My goal since hearing those words ‘you have cancer’ was to get back on the Strictly dance floor. It’s been such a challenge to get back, one I devoted 2024 to.
“Which with my incredible team we got there. Something I wanted to do for myself and loved ones. There was no feeling like it dancing again in the ballroom with my Strictly family.”
This isn’t the first time a Strictly professional has been replaced by a colleague mid-series. In 2019, Kevin Clifton replaced Neil Jones for two weeks after the former suffered a knee injury.
