First 2016 Celebrity Revealed

The BBC have revealed this morning on the Chris Evans Breakfast show the first celebrity to be taking part in the 2016 series.

Ed Balls

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Ed is best known for being an MP for the Labour Party and Shadow Chancellor to Ed Miliband until he spectacularly lost his seat during the 2015 General Election. As a politician Ed follows in the footsteps of Edwina Curry, Vince Cable and Anne Widdecombe in participating in Strictly. Although he won’t want to follow too closely in the footsteps of Anne!

Coral have Ed down as a 100-1 outside chance to win the series

What do you think of the first addition? Let me know in the comments section or on Facebook or Twitter. Don’t forget to like the Strictly Spoiler or follow me on those networks for chances to win prizes during the 2016 series. More details coming soon!

Three More Professional Dancers Announced

The BBC have today revealed 3 more professional dancers to join the line up of 14 dancers previously announced

British Dancers AJ Pritchard, Chloe Hewitt and Neil Jones join Aljaz Skorjanec, Anton Du Beke, Brendan Cole, Pasha Kovalev, Kevin Clifton, Gorka Marquez, Giovanni Pernice, Karen Clifton, Joanne Clifton, Katya Jones, Janette Manrara, Natalie Lowe, Oti Mabuse and Oksana Platero who were announced last month.

AJ and Chole together won the 2015 British Open Youth Latin Dance Championships and have been competing professionally for 9 years. At 20 years old Chloe is the youngest professional ever to take part in Strictly Come Dancing.

Neil is a 4 time British champion and three times winner of the World Amateur Latin Championships along with his wife and dance partner Katya Jones who joined Strictly last month. In 2015 they won the World Professional Latin Showdance Championships.

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AJ Pritchard, Chloe Hewitt and Neil Jones

The BBC have not revealed if this new lineup means there will be a huge 17 celebrities competing this year or if some of the new pros will be purely taking part in professional routines.

What to you think of the new additions? You can let me know in the comments section or over on Facebook or Twitter. Don’t forget to like or follow me on those networks to keep up with all things strictly spoiler including the contestants when they are announced in the next month as well as details of the 2016 Strictly Spoiler Competition which will be bigger and better than the 2015 Competition – full details coming soon!

Len Goodman To Leave Judging Panel After 2016 Series

It is being reported today that the 2016 series of Strictly Come Dancing will be Len Goodman’s final series and he will leave the judging panel after this series. Len has been on the panel since Strictly launched in 2004 and has served as head judge on the panel with the casting vote in the Dance Off in the event of a tie. Len has announced that he isn’t retiring and will continue with his radio shows on BBC Radio 2.

Anton Du Beke has emerged as the bookies favourite to replace Len with odds of 2-1 with Ladbrokes. Karen Hardy is 7-1 and Ian Waite 8-1. At longer odds Alesha Dixon is 25-1 to return to dish out 10s like nobody’s business and David Cameron whose diary is “remarkably light” now is 1000-1.

Will you miss Len? Who do you think should replace him on the panel, or should he not be replaced with the panel continuing as a threesome and who do you think should be the new head judge? You can let me know in the comments section below or on Facebook or Twitter. You can also like the Strictly Spoiler on Facebook or follow me on Twitter to keep up with all things Strictly Spoiler as the countdown to the 2016 series gets ever closer.