The Strictly Come Dancing line-up is growing by the day and on Thursday morning's episode of This Morning, hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford had the honour of revealing the fifth contestant. Catherine Tyldesley was announced live on air, with the actress saying in a statement: "I'm thrilled to be a part of this year's Strictly Come Dancing. I'm a huge fan of the show. It'll be my biggest challenge to date as I'm not much of a dancer, but I've always wanted to learn the skill and the time feels right! I'm nervous as hell but super excited to work with such talented professionals. Hold onto your jazz shoes... mine is sure to be a bumpy/clumsy/fun ride!"
Catherine, best known for playing Eva Price on Coronation Street, recently starred in the Channel 5 series 15 Days and has finished filming the new six-part comedy series Scarborough, written by the creator of long-running sitcom Benidorm, coming soon to BBC One. She also played the lead role of Iris Moss in BBC drama Lilies and has further credits in Holby City, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Sorted, Florence Nightingale Red Riding, Shameless and Trollied.
Catherine Tyldesley is joining Strictly!
Earlier on Thursday morning, 19-year-old YouTube star Saffron Barker was unveiled as the fourth contestant. The teenager, who averages 15 million views a month on her YouTube channels, said: "I am really excited to go on the Strictly journey and am feeling very grateful for the opportunity! I'm looking forward to learning all of the dances, finding out who my partner is, getting to wear the costumes and to just experience this once in a lifetime opportunity."
On Wednesday evening, the first three contestants were unveiled on The One Show – former England goalkeeper David James, comedian Chris Ramsey and EastEnders star Emma Barton. David said that former Strictly contestant Mark Foster convinced him to join the show, revealing: "I've been asked to do this quite a number of times and I said, 'No it's not my kind of thing.' But Mark said it's amazing so this time round I said yes. I've had to keep it secret for so long… I told my mum, but she forgot!"
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Chris Ramsey is also joining the show
Meanwhile, comedian Chris' wife Rosie has already joked about the infamous Strictly curse, saying that he failed to call her after the announcement. Taking to her Instagram page, Rosie teased: "So yeah, very exciting announcement, I don't want to start rumours but he said he was going to ring after. He was on The One Show half an hour ago. It's started already; I knew it would happen."
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Rosie, who is currently on holiday in Rhodes with the couple's five-year-old son Robin, later told her Instagram followers that all is well. "He rang, our marriage is safe," she wrote. "I'm really looking forward to having something to actually to do on a Saturday night."
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