Strictly Come Dancing has officially announced the first contestant in the celebrity line-up for the upcoming 2024 series.
It's been confirmed that comedian Chris McCausland will be taking to the dance floor this autumn – and we can't wait to see him in action!
Speaking about the exciting opportunity, Chris said on ITV's This Morning: "This is literally the worst kept secret that has ever been in television. It's been exhausting keeping a secret that everyone seems to know."
The 47-year-old added that he was "massively apprehensive" about taking part.
In an official statement, Chris, who will be the show's first blind contestant, said: "If anybody out there is thinking - How the hell is he going to do that? - then rest assured that I am thinking exactly the same thing. I don't dance, I haven't danced, I can't dance, I can't see the dancing I will have to do. What can possibly go wrong? Ok don't answer that...!"
© Shane Anthony SinclairChris is a regular face on flagship comedy shows like Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie to You? and 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.
The news comes just days after Olympic swimmer Tom Dean announced his place in the line-up. After reaching the final of the men's 200-metre individual medley at the Olympic Games in Paris last week, the 24-year-old revealed the news. "Naturally you want to take a break after you've had a full Olympic cycle and the opportunity arose," he said. "I thought it would be really exciting to try something a bit different.
"I'll be doing that and straight back into training after it. It's something to look forward to."
Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his teammate Adam Peaty, who competed in the 2021 series with Katya Jones, Tom said: "I've not seen (Adam) yet. He did brilliantly on it so I'll be getting a few tips from him, for sure.
© Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock"I don't do too well out of water in gravity sports," the Olympian continued. "I'm throwing myself into it and I know what a hard day's training is like so I'm looking forward to it. I guess we'll find out.
"It's something to look forward to and once I finish this, back home, relax a bit with the family and then we crack on end of August time. It's exciting."
The BBC show will return to screens this autumn, although a specific release date is yet to be confirmed.
© Guy LevyTess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will be back at the helm as hosts while Shirley Ballas will head up the judging panel, featuring Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel-Horwood and Anton Du Beke.
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)
