Strictly Come Dancing series 17
Strictly Come Dancing returned for its seventeenth series with a launch show on 7 September 2019 on BBC One, and the live shows beginning on 21 September. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman returned as hosts, while Zoe Ball returned to host Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two alongside new addition Rylan Clark-Neal.[1]
Strictly Come Dancing
25
7 September (Launch)
21 September 2019 –
14 December 2019 (Live shows)
Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, and Bruno Tonioli returned to the judging panel. After seven years, Darcey Bussell did not return to the series.[2] Motsi Mabuse, elder sister of professional dancer Oti Mabuse, was announced as Bussell's replacement on 22 July.[3] On 19 October, actor Alfonso Ribeiro returned as a guest judge.[4]
Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse were announced as the winners on 14 December, while EastEnders actress Emma Barton and Anton Du Beke, and CBBC presenter Karim Zeroual and Amy Dowden were the runners-up.[5]
Professional dancers
On 1 March 2019, it was announced that Pasha Kovalev would be leaving the show after eight years as a professional dancer.[6][7] On 30 July 2019, Nancy Xu was revealed to have been added to the cast of professionals.[8] On 21 August 2019, it was confirmed that both Gorka Márquez and Graziano Di Prima would not have celebrity partners, a change from the previous series;[9][10] in their place, the three professionals who did not have celebrity partners in series 16 - Neil Jones, Johannes Radebe, and Luba Mushtuk - were all given one for the first time.[11]
The couples performed the following each week: