Strictly Young Dancing: new celebrity line-up is most youthful for seven years
The new group of stars is the youngest since 2009 and features the first teenage contestant since 2006
Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC1 later this month with its most youthful celebrity line-up in seven years.
With an average age of just over 37, the group of contestants is the youngest since 2009 (when it was a mere fraction lower) and the first to include a teenage competitor since actress Louisa Lytton reached the quarter-final in 2006 aged 17.
The last series of Strictly had an average contestant age of almost 40 and featured no-one below the age of 24, but this time 18-year-old Olympic gymnast Claudia Fragapane helps to bring down the number, alongside several twentysomething stars.
Model Daisy Lowe is 27, former Hollyoaks actor Danny Mac is 28 and Olympic long-jumper Greg Rutherford and sports presenter Ore Oduba are both 29. Meanwhile, former model Laura Whitmore, now a host on the I'm a Celebrity spin-off show, is just 31.
Birds of a Feather actress Lesley Joseph is the veteran star in this year's line-up, but still not as old as Paul Daniels, 72, or Johnny Ball, 74, when they competed.
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The new contestants were unveiled alongside their professional dance partners at the weekend. Strictly Come Dancing returns for the series proper later this month.
