Overview

• The launch show confirmed Nancy Xu, Michelle Tsiakkas, Luba Mushtuk and Neil Jones will perform only in group routines this series.
• New professionals Alexis Warr and Julian Caillon received celebrity partners, training YouTuber George Clarke and EastEnders actor Balvinder Sopal.
• Gorka Márquez also has no partner this year because he will miss at least four weeks while judging Spain’s Bailando con las Estrellas.
• Viewers on social media questioned the fairness of sidelining established pros as newcomers entered the main cast, and some criticized the Thomas Skinner–Amy Dowden pairing, which Dowden publicly supported.
• Birmingham Live, citing The Sun, reported an unnamed insider saying Nancy Xu feels upset and believes she has been snubbed.