Overview

• The longtime professional will not take a celebrity partner this series and will appear only in pre-recorded and ensemble numbers due to his judging role on Spain’s Bailando Con Las Estrellas.
• Mail reporting says he features in group routines for the first seven weeks, then is off the show for about a month before returning in week 11.
• The Sun and Mirror report friends claim he is relieved to reduce his involvement, but his spokesperson says he is delighted to remain part of the programme alongside his Spanish commitments.
• The Met said a man was arrested on August 22 on suspicion of rape and non-consensual intimate image abuse in a joint investigation with Hertfordshire Constabulary, with enquiries ongoing.
• The BBC has engaged law firm Russells to examine reported cocaine-use allegations involving two individuals and says it cannot comment on the active police investigation, with BBC sources indicating no suggestion of a link to this year’s production.