Strictly stars 'most likely to win' as secret dancing skills exposed

The 15 Strictly Come Dancing contestants who’ve signed up for the 23rd series have now been unveiled and they include the show’s first celebrity with Down Syndrome, a drag artist dancing in character and a former Apprentice contestant who’s said to be eyeing up the role of London Mayor.

As they started rehearsals for the first time yesterday, there’s arguably someone for everyone, with Home & Away’s Stefan Dennis, Good Morning Britain’s Ross King and ER actress Alex Kingston flying the flag for older viewers - all are in their 60s - while YouTuber George Clarke, 25, is included for the Tik Tok generation, along with model Ellie Goldstein, who is this year’s youngest contestant at 23. But the big question is - will they be any good at dancing? Here, we rate their chances of getting to that glitterball.

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, athlete turned Gladiator, 36 We know that Harry, aka Nitro from Gladiators, can move - because we saw him strut his stuff in the Christmas special alongside Nancy Xu. He must fancy his chances if he’s back so soon. “It was so nice I had to do it twice,” he declared. “I’ll be bringing tons of energy to light up the dance floor.”

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Dani Dyer, reality TV star, 29 The Love Island winner wrote in her 2019 autobiography that she would put ‘qualified dancer’ on her CV. In the book, which came out six years ago, she said she went to stage school at weekends for 12 years, from the age of two. ”I'm not a bad singer but it was the dance stuff I loved more - jazz, tap, ballet, modern. I'd get home and prance around the house.” The bookies have got Danias joint fave to win.

Alex Kingston, ER and Doctor Who actress, 62 Alex is so unsure of her skills she muttered just one word - “Aaaaaaargh!”- in her official announcement interview. But like most actors, she’ll have a bit of dance training in her armoury, for sure. And Alex was inspired to sign up by her pal Sarah Hadland, one of last year’s finalists - which is another clue she’ll be good.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, 53, former footballer Soccer stars tend to fare pretty badly on Strictly, but perhaps Jimmy will be different? He admits he signed up to impress his daughters who are huge fans of the show, and doesn’t have any prior dance experience: “Swapping the pitch for the ballroom is certainly not something I’ve done before,” he sighs. Don’t worry Jimmy, at least your fitness will help.

Balvinder Sopal, EastEnders actress, 46 She’s well-loved as Albert Square’s Suki Panesar and says she’s so excited to take part she can hardly believe her luck. But then, she won’t have as the same nerves as the others because she's got form. ‘I dabbled a little bit,” she confessed. “I did ballroom and Latin as a kind of hobby, and I really love it. So I’ll definitely enjoy it.” Yup, she’s certainly one to watch.

George Clarke, You Tuber, 25 It doesn’t sound like George “Clarkey” Clarke is much of a jazz-hands, stage school kinda guy. “I’ve got no idea what I’m doing,” he admitted. “But I’m excited to get stuck in - and potentially fall over a fair bit.” The podcaster and social media star, whose father Sean is boss of Bristol-based Wallace and Gromit company Aardman Animations, is known for his comedic take on life so even if he can’t dance - he should be funny.

La Voix, drag queen played by Chris Dennis, 45 While La Voix is accomplished at singing and telling jokes, it remains to be seen how well she moves as she becomes the first drag performer to take part in the main show. She has a lot to live up to after her Drag Race UK pal Tayce won last year's Christmas special alongside professional Kai Widdrington. BGT star Chris Dennis will perform as his female alter ego - with a male parter - but also said he’s excited for viewers to go beyond the stage persona and meet the real him.

Chris Robshaw, former rugby union player, 39 He’s captained the national team 43 times and even led them to a Six Nations Grand Slam victory in 2016 - but that doesn’t mean his rugby sidestep works in a Cha Cha Cha. Chris is the ninth rugby ace to join Strictly - and not one has ever won. “This is about as far out of my comfort zone as it gets,” he confessed. “I’m hoping to take my dad dancing to a whole new level.” Good luck with that.

Ellie Goldstein, model with Down syndrome, 23 Having famously made it to the cover of Vogue and also launched a Barbie doll with Down syndrome and appeared on CBBC’s Malory Towers - soEllie is flying high. She doesn’t mind admitting that she wants Nikita Kuzmin as her pro partner because “he’s hot and fit”. The bookies currently have her and Dani tying as favourites to lift the glitterball and, with her fun-loving outlook, she really could go all the way.

Thomas Skinner, reality TV star, 34 Essex pillow salesman Thomas Skinner claims he only ever throws shapes at weddings. Having found fame on The Apprentice in 2019, he’s drawn a social media following after endlessly praising Donald Trump and having recently buddied up with JD Vance. He doesn’t like Labour or anything “woke” - which might not go down well. Bosh!

Vicky Pattison, reality TV star, 37 The Geordie Shore regular became Queen of The Jungle when she took part in I’m a Celebrity a few years back, so she is popular with the voting public. After blundering with her Deepfake Sex Tape documentary earlier this year, Vicky might have her work cut out to do better than big pal Pete Wicks, who got all the way to the final last year. Haway (as they say in Newcastle).

Stefan Dennis, Home & Away star, 66 We all know him as Paul Robinson in Neighbours, but Stefan has West End experience after appearing in musical Blood Brothers so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a bit of a dancer. He claims he’s “stepping out of my comfort zone” but I bet it feels a bit like coming home, really. Let’s see if he can beat his screen brother Jason Donovan, who made it all the way to the final.

Ross King, Good Morning Britain’s LA correspondent, 63 It is the law that someone off breakfast telly has to do Strictly, and this year it’s the turn of US-based Ross. He says his aim is to “try not to step on too many toes”. Hmmm. “As my mum always said: ‘You’ll never know till you give it a go!’” I think we do know Ross…

Karen Carney, 38, retired Arsenal/England footballer England’s third most capped player retired from from football six years ago but is likely to still have great fitness. Karen, whose family didn’t know she’d signed until it was announced yesterday, says she’s better at dancing than Jill Scott - but claims that doesn’t count for much because Jill is terrible. Karen said: “I’ve got little bit of rhythm and I did a bit of dancing as a kid.” Could be a dark horse.

Kristian Nairn, Game of Thrones star and DJ, 49 At 6 foot 9inches tall, it’s going to be hard to miss Kristian on the dance floor. The actor, who played Hodor, said he agreed to take part because of his DJ-ing roots. “I love dance, music and movement - I saw it as a chance to get back into that,” he explained. Kristian admits to feeling “stressed to the max”over whether he can do anything more than the classic DJ behind-the-deck shuffle. And who does he fancy as a partner? “Someone tall,” he laughs.

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