Two new professional dancers are also joining the line-up this year – Alexis Warr, who won US dance series So You Think You Can Dance in 2022, and Australian-born Julian Caillon, who has appeared as a professional dancer on three seasons of Australia’s Dancing With The Stars.
Last year’s series was won by comedian Chris McCausland, who became the programme’s first blind victor, with dance partner Dianne Buswell.
But the show, which has been airing since 2004, has also faced a number of controversies over the past year relating to the behaviour of some of its professional dancers and celebrity guests.
Last week, the BBC launched an investigation into alleged drug use by two Strictly stars, who have not been named, after The Sun on Sunday reported alleged cocaine use.
Meanwhile, professional dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima left the show last year following allegations about their behaviour towards their dance partners.
The BBC announced new welfare measures for Strictly last July. These include having chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, adding two new welfare producers and providing additional training for the professional dancers, production team and crew.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.bbc.co.uk ’
