Who is confirmed for Strictly Come Dancing 2016?
BBC Breakfast's Naga Munchetty, DJ Melvin Odoom, sports presenter Ore Oduba, TV star Laura Whitmore, politician Ed Balls and pop star Will Young are among the 15-strong line-up...
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Will Young
The second celebrity to join Strictly Come Dancing 2016 is… Will Young! The 37-year-old former Pop Idol winner is returning to the world of reality TV and taking to the Strictly dance floor this autumn.
He’ll be hoping his Evergreen appeal keeps him in the competition and prevents Craig Revel Horwood from ever telling him to Leave Right Now. Can we fit anymore song titles in here? No? Okay then.
“As a fan of Strictly for years, I have always imagined myself on the show, but the timing has not been right… until now!” says the star.
The BBC1 show announced the news on Twitter:
Taking to the #Strictly dance floor in 2016, it’s singer and actor @willyoung! https://t.co/rxrtFzedJ4 pic.twitter.com/rp3t2bKwdO
— BBC Strictly (@bbcstrictly) 9 August 2016
Ed Balls
First up is former Shadow Chancellor and MP for Morley and Outwood Ed Balls. Balls, 49, is the first male politician to appear on the main show (Vince Cable did the 2010 Christmas Special). Edwina Currie and Ann Widdecombe have, of course, pulled their dancing shoes on before him. When unveiled on Chris Evans’s Radio 2 Breakfast Show Balls admitted he was “scared to death” about competing in the show, but was preparing to get fit ahead of the show’s launch.
“Making a speech in Parliament seems a piece of cake compared to this, but hopefully I can stick around for a couple of weeks, and have a lot of fun in the process,” he said. “Strictly is a firm favourite in our living room, and it feels like a dream to be going on myself, especially for Len’s last series [Head Judge Len Goodman will leave after this series]. I’m just hoping it doesn’t turn into a nightmare too quickly!”
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC1 later this year
