Strictly Come Dancing has confirmed its 14th contestant, and we can't wait to see her take to the dance floor! It has been revealed that Annabel Croft will be competing on the hit dancing competition – and we think she's going to be amazing!
Annabel is best known as a former British Number One tennis player who, at 15 years old, was the youngest British player to compete at Wimbledon for 95 years. She has since gone on to represent Great British in Wightman and Federation Cup competitions, and covers the Wimbledon competition.
The star is also a hugely successful TV presenter, having fronted shows including Treasure Hunt and Inceptor. Speaking about joining the show, she said: "I have always loved watching Strictly and can’t quite believe I’m going to be part of this magical show – swapping tennis balls for glitter balls and looking forward to finding some joyfulness in the process."
Annabel is set to join Nigel Harman, who was also announced today. He said: "I'm amazed, excited, and terrified to be doing Strictly. As an armchair fan of the show I have watched in awe as people have twirled and gyrated across the screen. And now it's my turn... gulp!"
The pair are the latest announcements alongside EastEnders star Bobby Brazier, Angela Scanlon, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Amanda Abbington and Layton Williams, as well as Jody Cundy CBE, Ellie Leach, and Adam Thomas. Speaking about being signed up, Adam said: ""I am so excited to be joining the cast of this year's Strictly Come Dancing. I've been such a big fan of the show for years, I can't believe I'm actually doing it! He admitted: "I can't dance to save my life but I'm buzzing to learn and have a good laugh with my pro. Get me on that dance floor... I can't wait!"
Every Strictly Come Dancing winner so far
- 2004: Natisha Kaplinsky (partner Brendan Cole)
- 2004: Jill Halfpenny (partner Darren Bennett)
- 2005: Darren Gough (partner Lilia Kopylova)
- 2006: Mark Ramprakash (partner Karen Hardy)
- 2007: Alesha Dixon (partner Matthew Cutler)
- 2008: Tom Chambers (partner Camilla Dallerup)
- 2009: Chris Hollins (partner Ola Jordan)
- 2010: Kara Tointon (partner Artem Chigvintsev)
- 2011: Harry Judd (partner Aliona Vilani)
- 2012: Louis Smith (partner Flavia Cacace)
- 2013: Abbey Clancy (partner Aljaž Škorjanec)
- 2014: Caroline Flack (partner Pasha Kovalev)
- 2015: Jay McGuiness (partner Aliona Vilani)
- 2016: Ore Oduba (partner Joanne Clifton)
- 2017: Joe McFadden (partner Katya Jones)
- 2018: Stacey Dooley (partner Kevin Clifton)
- 2019: Kelvin Fletcher (partner Oti Mabuse)
- 2020: Bill Bailey (partner Oti Mabuse)
- 2021: Rose Ayling-Ellis (partner Giovanni Pernice)
- 2022: Hamza Yassin (partner Jowita Przystał)
- 2023: Ellie Leach (partner Vito Coppola)
Zara McDermott is also taking part, and is the first former Love Island star to be invited onto the show. Speaking to the BBC about her joining the competition, the 26-year-old said: "I am so excited to be joining the world of Strictly! I grew up watching it every year with my nan and she was the biggest Strictly fan."
So when will we see the dancing stars in action? BBC hasn't announced an official start date just yet, but the competition tends to kick off in late September or early October, two weeks after the launch show. As such, it gives the celebrities some time to get into training, and find out which dancing pro they would be best suited to for a shot at winning the Glitterball trophy! Who do you think will be the champion for the 2023 series? We can't wait to find out!
