Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher has been announced as the replacement for Made In Chelsea star Jamie Laing.
Laing injured himself during filming for Saturday night’s pre-recorded launch show. Fletcher will now replace him. Fletcher is known for playing Andy Sugden in Emmerdale, he will dance with professional Oti Mabuse.
The new series aired on Saturday night on BBC one, there was an average of 7.8 million viewers and peaked at 8.3.m.
Fletcher won a Best Soap Award in 1999 for Best Dramatic Performance. Commenting on the news he said: “Is this really happening?! It’s been the most surreal week of my life! I’m a massive fan of Strictly so it’s incredible”.
He added: “I’m so happy that I can be a part of it. But at the same time it’s quite bittersweet! I’m coming in on the back of Jamie’s injury – I keep thinking about him! I can’t imagine going through all this excitement and then having to pull out. My thoughts are with him – he seems like a fantastic guy and I hope he’s doing OK.”
Below is the list of all the dancing pairs for this year:
- BBC Radio 1 DJ Dev Griffin and Dianne Buswell
- CBBC presenter Karim Zeroual and Amy Dowden
- BBC sports presenter Mike Bushell and Katya Jones
- TV presenter Anneka Rice and Kevin Clifton
- US singer and TV host Michelle Visage and Giovanni Pernice
- Former England footballer Alex Scott and Neil Jones
- Ex-Coronation Street star Catherine Tyldesley and Johannes Radebe
- Comedian Chris Ramsey and Karen Hauer
- Former England goalkeeper David James and Nadiya Bychkova
- EastEnders star Emma Barton and Anton Du Beke
- Fashion model Viscountess Emma Weymouth and Aljaz Skorjanec
- Olympic rower James Cracknell and Luba Mushtuk
- YouTube star Saffron Barker and AJ Pritchard
- Paralympian Will Bayley and Janette Manrara
- Former Emmerdale star Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse
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