When is Strictly Come Dancing’s 2024 line-up announced? (original) (raw)

It's not long before Strictly Come Dancing's 2024 celebrity line-up will be announced.

Strictly rumours have been swirling about who might be swapping their high-profile jobs for the dancefloor. Among those whispers, we have heard rumours of Hannah Waddingham, The Traitors star Mollie Pearce as well as BBC newsreader Clive Myrie and comedian Chris McCausland, to name a few.

Shirley Ballas teased the Strictly 2024 line-up announcement may be sooner than we think. After announcements ran in early August last year, the head judge said we may expect to hear the news in July.

She told HELLO! magazine: "The celebrities will be announced, I believe July. I think it's coming up rather soon." She added: "It's going to be absolutely off the chart. Just when you think the show can’t get any better, it does. We've got a great professional line-up, of course, Tess and Claudia are back."

BBC have kept the announcement date a secret so far. A BBC spokesperson has said: "The Strictly Come Dancing 2024 celebrity contestants will be revealed in due course."

As excitement continues to build around the 20th series, we will hear more and more rumours about which stars are going to be putting on their dancing shoes. We take a look at how the official announcements work...

What happens with Strictly's 2024 line-up announcements?

Strictly Come Dancing's judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke. (BBC)

Strictly Come Dancing's judges are all returning this year. (BBC)

Last year, the first three celebrity names - Amanda Abbington, Angela Rippon and Layton Williams - were announced on BBC's chat show The One Show on Friday 4 August. Then at least one celebrity's name was unveiled every day until the final identity was unveiled on 11 August.

Each celebrity competing on the show will share some words about the upcoming challenge they are taking on and a new photograph of them will be released. This is always a hugely exciting time for the show as viewers get their first look at the stars competing on the upcoming series. It is expected BBC will announce the celebrity names in a similar fashion this year.

The celebrity partnerships will not be revealed at the same time.

Read more: Strictly

The Strictly partnerships

The celebrities and the professional dancers line-up are confirmed ahead of the first show. However, the Strictly partnerships are announced during the Strictly launch show. The BBC are yet to confirm the date for the launch show but it usually falls in the second half of September.

The launch show is pre-recorded. Typically we see the celebrities and professional dancers perform their first group number together. Strictly's first live show takes place the following Saturday night when the celebrities and their professional partners will take to the dancefloor for their first performance on the show.

Strictly's 2024 professional dancers

Graziano Di Prima has been dropped from the Strictly 2024 line-up.

Graziano Di Prima has been dropped from the Strictly 2024 line-up. (BBC)

Graziano Di Prima was dropped from the 2024 line-up after claims of misconduct against his 2023 series dance partner Zara McDermott. Di Prima said in a statement: "I deeply regret the events that led to my departure from Strictly. My intense passion and determination to win might have affected my training regime."

The BBC said in a statement: "We can confirm that Graziano Di Prima is no longer a part of the line-up of professional dancers for the upcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing. While we would never comment on individual cases, it is well-known that the BBC has established robust duty of care procedures, and if issues are raised we will always take them seriously and act swiftly as appropriate."

Giovanna Pernice also won't be returning to Strictly this year after nine years on the BBC show.

Strictly legend Aljaz Skorjanec is returning to the show. (BBC)

Strictly legend Aljaz Skorjanec is returning to the show. (BBC)

BBC bosses have announced Strictly legend Aljaz Skorjanec would be returning to the 2024 dancers' line-up with a chat on The One Show. After two years away from the show, Skorjanec has become a dad to baby Lyra whom he raises with Janette Manrara.

Now he's back on Strictly alongside professional dancers including: Dianne Buswell, Nadiya Bychkova, Amy Dowden, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Nikita Kuzmin, Gorka Marquez, Luba Mushtuk, Jowita Przystal, Johannes Radebe, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley, Michelle Tsiakkas and Vito Coppola.