Although the first three Strictly Come Dancing contestants for 2019 were due to be announced on The One Show on Wednesday night, Iain Lee has appeared to let the announcement slip during an appearance on Good Morning Britain. During the morning show, he revealed to Ben Shepherd that the first three contestants are Jamie Laing, Sam Allardyce and Anneka Rice, telling him: "They are going to announce the first three people on a show called The One Show. It's going to be Sam Allardyce, Jamie Laing and Anneka Rice." HELLO! has reached out to the BBC for confirmation.
© Photo: Getty ImagesJamie is one of the Strictly contestants
Ben interjected: "They are announcing it later and you have already announced it?" to which he replied: "Oops, sorry." The identities of the Strictly celebs has been under lock and key over the past few weeks, with the BBC even giving the stars superhero nicknames rather than use their real names. The codenames included Batman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Mystique, Catwoman, Hulk, Captain America and Bananaman.
© Photo: Getty ImagesSam will be starring on Strictly
This year is slightly different than usual as celebrities are usually announced around mid-August time, and stars including The Saturdays singer Una Healy, Line of Duty actor Adrian Dunbar, I'm a Celebrity winner Harry Redknapp, Boyzone bandmate Keith Duffy, Atomic Kitten's Natasha Hamilton, Blue Peter presenter Radzi Chinyanganya and Coronation Street actor Jack P Shepherd are all thought to be among the potential contestants. It will be a year of changes on the show, as judge Darcey Bussell has been replaced by Motsi Mabuse, who was previously a judge on the German dancing show Let's Dance, and the sister of professional dancer, Oti Mabuse.
© Photo: Getty ImagesAnneka is one of the new Strictly celebs
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The Strictly pros began rehearsals for the new series this week, with Dianne Buswell explaining on Sunday Brunch: "In less than two weeks the pros go back. The professionals do all the professional routines. So we have a month where we go in every day to learn a new dance and then we meet the celebrities. When I find out who my celebrity is, it's legit on camera and on TV, so it's very exciting."
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