Strictly hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess DalyWith the summer only just starting to peek its head around the corner, it doesn’t feel quite right to alright be looking ahead to autumn telly.
But, despite the new series of Strictly Come Dancing still being a good few months away, that hasn’t stopped rumours about which celebrities will be taking place from starting to pop up in the press.
This year’s Strictly will be a special one as it marks 20 years since the show first began airing on BBC One, with stars from the world of TV, sport and beyond already being tipped to be in the pipeline.
Here are some of the rumours about the 2024 Strictly line-up that have been reported so far…
Actor, filmmaker, model and, of course, billionaire heiress Nicola Peltz Beckham is best known on this side of the Atlantic for being married to David and Victoria Beckham’s eldest son Brooklyn.
The Sun reported back in January that Nicola’s team were hoping she could use Strictly to “boost her profile” here in the UK, with a separate story in the same tabloid months later claiming that Brooklyn might also be on producers’ radars.
Best known for his stint on Love Island and his boxing career, The Sun was the first to report that Strictly bosses were “keen” to sign up Tommy Fury for this year’s series.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed “source” claiming that bosses were “trying everything to get Tommy on”, in the hopes that his fiancé Molly-Mae Hague being in the studio audience might help “pull in younger fans”.
Considering Hannah Waddingham is an award-winning star of hit TV shows and films, we’d perhaps suggest taking this rumour with a pinch of salt.
However, back in April, The Mirror reported that the Ted Lasso star was “seriously considering” an offer from the BBC to take part in the hit ballroom dancing show.
Citing unspecified “insiders”, the outlet claimed Hannah is already a huge Strictly fan, with the only major “question” in her mind being whether her schedule would allow her to spend weeks at a time training for it.
Already an Olympic sprinter before he became known to Gladiators fans in the show’s recent BBC reboot, Nitro was said by The Sun in May to already be “on the verge of agreeing a deal” with Strictly producers.
According to The Sun’s “source”, BBC bosses are hoping to “cross-pollinate entertainment shows” by having Nitro sign up for Strictly, a year after appearing as a guest during one of the show’s live shows in December 2023.
An early pick for Strictly’s obligatory soap star slot, Shona McGarty was rumoured by The Mirror to be “in talks” for this year’s series.
Shona is best known for her role as Whitney Dean in the long-running BBC soap, which she stepped down from last year, having been with EastEnders since her late teens.
Interestingly, Shona was previously rumoured for this year’s series of Dancing On Ice, but ultimately didn’t appear on the line-up,
Speculation about Roman Kemp signing up for Strictly began earlier this year, when he stepped down as the host of Capital’s breakfast show after more than six years.
Sadly, the man himself seems less enthused about the idea, insisting to OK! magazine the only way he’d say yes would be if he could dance with Johannes Radebe, as he thinks the media tends to focus too much on the “soap opera of who’s dating who” during Strictly season.
We’d be as surprised as anyone to see the acclaimed documentarian getting Strictly-fied, but it was actually Louis Theroux himself who suggested he’d be up for it.
He recently told Jonathan Ross: “I know I’ve had too many drinks when I’m in the kitchen dancing while listening to something on the smart speaker – often hip-hop – and I start doing the funky robot and then I start doing MC Hammer spins. And that’s where it happens and I start thinking I should really go on Strictly.”
After a year of the Royal Family continuing to dominate the headlines, Strictly pro Nadiya Bychkova disclosed back in April that none other than Princess Anne has expressed interest in getting her dancing shoes on.
“She is a Strictly fan and she wants to go on the show – she told me,” Nadiya let slip to The Sun after crossing paths with the Princess Royal at a ballet event.
“I think she would be good – there’s a lot of personality there, isn’t there?” she added.
