AN EastEnders actor and Olympian have been confirmed as the latest Strictly Come Dancing signings.
Soap star Jamie Brothwick, 30, who starred in the BBC show’s Christmas special and swimmer Tom Dean MBE, 24, were announced as competitors on Radio 1 this afternoon.
Competitive freestyle swimmer Tom had accidentally revealed he was joining the scandal-hit show after The Sun‘s exclusive story.
He’ll join Jamie Borthwick, who plays Jay Brown on EastEnders, who scored the highest possible mark of 40 in the Christmas show.
And it looks like he could take home the Glitterball Trophy for a second time.
Tom said on Radio 1: “Me and Jamie were just chatting about it and how much dance experience we’ve both got.
“I’m excited. It doesn’t quite feel real. We’ve got some training coming so that’ll help to make it sink more in.”
Meanwhile Jamie, 30, who has starred in the BBC soap for 18 years, was paired with pro Nancy Xu on his former stint.
But it is not known yet who his partner will be in the autumn.
Jamie said: “Doing the Christmas show is what made me do this. I had such a fantastic time.”
Reminded that he won the festive special, Jamie laughed: “I blagged it, I don’t know how but I did.”
Tom bagged two golds at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 200 metres freestyle and the 4 x 200 metres medley relay.
The relay team went on to defend their title at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Tom made it to the final of the 200m individual medley in Paris, finishing fifth.
Earlier today, X Factor winner and Coronation Street hunk Shayne Ward joined actress Sarah Hadland on ITV’s Lorraine for their own big reveal.
Shayne, 39. told host Christine Lampard: “My kids are at home watching this, we’ve watched it for so many years, I feel massive admiration for people who take part because it’s not easy.
“I’ve always loved watching the progress to the next stage. But for me honestly I always felt like I was nervous to do it, like I couldn’t do it, like I wasn’t good enough.
“But now after many years I feel in my gut this is the right time, I’m excited for it, I’m hungry!”
Miranda actress Sarah, 53, who is best known as Stevie Sutton in the beloved BBC sitcom, admitted she hadn’t told her mum the news yet.
She told Christine: “I’m doing it finally, every year she says, ‘do you think you’ll do it this year? And now I can say yes I will. Massive morning for my mum.”
Christine said to the pair: “We know Strictly has been in the press for the wrong reasons, how does it feel to be in the new series?”
Shayne, who has been focusing on his drama The Goodship Murder, said: “I’ve been away hiding for three months so I haven’t seen anything. I’m just focused on meeting all the dancers and the rest of the contestants and having the most amazing experience.”
Sarah replied: “I’m just happy to be covered in glue and rolled in glitter and tan.”
The announcements come after Love Island star Tasha Ghouri and Towie legend Pete Wicks also confirmed they will be appearing on the 20th series of Strictly.
The popular BBC dancing show has made headlines recently after a storm of controversy over the alleged treatment of contestants on the show.
And Just six women have joined the upcoming line-up.
WITH Strictly's 20th anniversary special airing in September, The Sun takes a look at which celebs have been confirmed so far:
The results of an investigation, launched by the BBC following allegations made about Giovanni Pernice by former participant Amanda Abbington, have not yet been published by the corporation.
Pernice rejects the allegations and fellow dancer Graziano Di Prima has also left the show.
The competition is fierce this year with just six women signing up – and two of them have vast dance training.
Tasha has been forced to defend her dance experience after announcing she’s joining the competition.
The star – who used to date ex-pro dancer Giovanni Pernice – competed in a number of major dance events before finding fame on Love Island.
Meanwhile, Sarah’s pal, Doctor Who’s Alex Kingston, previously said it would be ‘unfair’ to compete against Sarah on Strictly.
Alex shared in 2019: “Sarah Hadland and I talked about how much we’d like to do Strictly Come Dancing.
“Then I discovered that she’s actually a trained ballet dancer.
“Hang on a minute! That’s not fair!’ So, I can’t do it on a season when she is on it.”
TV star Sarah has starred in countless other shows including The Job Lot, Waterloo Road and That Mitchell and Webb Look.
Strictly Come Dancing's scandal has been growing over the past few months, with several major players speaking out about what went on. Here are the key moments of what's happened so far
16th May: Giovanni Pernice sensationally quits Strictly Come Dancing after nine years on the show.
17th May: Giovanni becomes the centre of an official investigation after three former partners – believed to be Amanda Abbington, Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh – make complaints to the BBC.
16th June: Giovanni releases an official statement vowing to clear his name and denies any wrongdoing.
8th July: Strictly confirms Aljaz Skorjanec will return to the series, replacing Giovanni, after initially quitting the show two years ago.
10th July: Amanda Abbington launches fresh legal proceedings to get the rehearsal footage from her time with Giovanni, after allegedly he refused to release the videos.
13th July: Graziano Di Prima is axed from Strictly for “gross misconduct” after footage of his treatment of Zara McDermott is brought to the attention of the BBC.
Graziano quickly broke his silence, apologising for his behaviour in a statement and saying he “deeply regrets it”, adding his “intense passion and determination to win might have affected his training regime.”
15th July: Strictly bosses implement new duty of care protocols, including having a chaperone present throughout all rehearsals.
16th July: Zara McDermott speaks out publicly for first time. She states while the production team were “amazing to work with”, she found the rehearsal room “completely different”, confirming there’s footage of “certain situations”.
19th July: Anton Du Beke is put under the spotlight for his “1970s attitude” and treatment of female celeb stars, particularly after allegedly referring to 2009 partner Laila Rouass as a “p***” after getting a spray tan.
21st July: Paralympian Will Bayley, who has limb condition arthrogryposis, revealed he was encouraged to leap from a table during a dance routine, despite fears. The stunt caused an injury that forced him to withdraw from the show.
22nd July: MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace admits he broke down in tears and got a nasty stress rash on his face during his time on Strictly in 2014.
22nd July: Despite ongoing issues, the Strictly professional cast begin rehearsals for this year’s series.
23rd July: Celebrity agent Melanie Blake claims she was sexually assaulted by an unnamed pro dancer while backstage on the show, and claims she witnessed ageism, rudeness and a rough treatment to the point of injury.
23rd July: Strictly is forced to beef up security after ‘an intruder scales the wall of the rehearsal studio’.
23rd July: BBC boss Tim Davie breaks his silence on the ongoing allegations against Strictly, saying he is ‘deeply sorry’, adding: “Hundreds of people, be they pros, contestants or crew have been part of it and had a brilliant experience.
“At the same time if someone thinks there was something wrong or they want to talk about their experience then of course we want them to raise that with us. Be in no doubt we will take it seriously, listen and deal with it as appropriate.”
24th July: Strictly 2023 star Krishnan Guru-Murthy holds a bombshell interview with Amanda Abbington on Channel 4 news, where she claims she was bullied, with some of the ‘humilation being of a sexual nature’.
27th July: Laura Whitmore releases a statement regarding her Strictly experience, saying “I thought my experience was specific to me but I’ve since learned I was wrong”.
She adds she is not part of the official complaint, but has come forward to support Amanda with the BBC, alongside others.
28th July: Laila Rouass speaks out against the accusations regarding Anton Du Beke, saying she “never felt pressured” by him and “personally insisted on six to seven hours training a day”.
