Strictly Come Dancing have announced that three brand new professional dancers will be joining the show for its upcoming season, includingJohannes Radebe. The 31-year-old is one of the two new male dancers to join the show, replacing Brendan Cole, who was controversially axed following the 2017 series. Johannes hails from South Africa, and is the two-time Professional South African Latin Champion and three time South African Amateur Latin Champion. He is a member of the Afro Arimba Dance Company, and was a professional dancer on the South Africa version of Strictly for two seasons, and reached the final on both occasions.
© Photo: InstagramJohannes is one of three new dancers to join the show
Speaking about joining the UK version of the show, he said: "Joining Strictly Come Dancing is one of the greatest achievements of my dancing career. It is such an honour to be chosen to be a part of an incredible cast and be part of one of the biggest shows that is celebrated worldwide. I cannot wait to get started and experience the magic with the UK!" After the news was announced, he tweeted: "It's an honour to be joining the @bbcstrictly family. I'm so excited." Fans were quick to praise the decision, with one writing: "From a South African I can tell you Johannes Radebe is a FANTASTIC dancer and will be terrific for ANY celeb he gets casted with."
READ:;Kevin Clifton on Brendan Cole exit: 'the BBC does tend to get it right'
© Photo: InstagramJohannes tweeted his delight about joining the show
The other professional dancers who will be returning to the Strictly include AJ Pritchard, Aljaž Škorjanec, Amy Dowden, Anton Du Beke, Dianne Buswell, Giovanni Pernice, Gorka Marquez, Janette Manrara, Karen Clifton, Katya Jones, Kevin Clifton, Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones, Oti Mabuse and Pasha Kovalev, and a spokesperson for Strictly confirmed that Brendan and Chloe Hewitt will leave the series, writing: "The Strictly team would like to thank both of them for their considerable contribution to the show and wish them all the very best for the future." Speaking about the new line-up, Executive Producer Louise Rainbow said: "This is the biggest line-up of pros that we've ever had on Strictly. We are so lucky to have such an array of talent. A huge thank you goes to Brendan from all of us for 15 amazing series of Strictly. We wish him all the very best with his future projects."
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