Strictly Come Dancing’s Amy Dowden makes shock announcement after quitting series

Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden is set to make a shock comeback to the show after she was forced to withdraw from this year’s series through injury

Fans of Strictly Come Dancing will be elated after the news Amy Dowden will be returning for the arena tour next year.

Professional dancer Amy was forced to pull out of this year’s competition through injury, but is set to take to the dance floor once again. It’s been revealed Amy will be back dancing with JB Gill for the tour.

The JLS man will dance with both Amy and Lauren Oakley throughout the 30-show tour.

The full line-up for the eagerly anticipated shows has now been confirmed. As well as Lauren, Amy and JB, the couples performing will be Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas, Montell Douglas and Kai Widdrington, Wynne Evans and Katya Jones; Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec, Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola and Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu.

The full line-up has been announced

Dianne Buswell, Karen Hauer, Neil Jones, Nikita Kuzmin, Jowita Przystal plus Robbie Kmetoni and Jake Leigh, will also be on hand to entertain the crowd for the live tour. As too will judges Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood, with Motsi Mabuse making her tour debut. It Take Two’s Janette Manrara completes the bumper line up.

Speaking of the upcoming tour and Amy’s inclusion, Janette said: “Wow – what an incredible line-up of couples we have on the tour next year! Arena audiences around the country are in for a real treat. It’s going to be a blast to be back with all the pros and, as an extra special treat, it will be a joy to welcome back the lovely Amy Dowden. Get ready for an evening of pure Strictly entertainment for the whole family – bigger and better than ever before!”

JB Gill will perform with both Lauren Oakley and Amy Dowden

Amy had to withdraw from the TV series due to injury (
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PA)While the bumper line-up is sure to please fans, there is one noticeable absentee. Winner Chris McCausland won’t be joining the tour and detailed the “emotional toll” the show had taken on him while speaking to ITV’s Lorraine. The comedian told stand-in presenter Ranvir Singh: “It’s been a really emotional Saturday night and I’m still feeling quite worn down by it. It’s been three and a half months; it’s relentless. It’s consuming – physically and mentally it takes a toll. This is what the show does, it wears you down physically and mentally and then it pokes you with a stick until you cry in front of everybody.
He added: ” I started my tour in January this year and I did the first leg until May and I was meant to be back out in September. We moved the dates to accommodate Strictly, so we just moved them to January. We had to move these dates to accommodate Strictly and it just wasn’t a consideration at the time…
“I don’t think anybody thought I would be any good at it. I don’t think they thought it, I don’t think I thought it. And in terms of going on tour in January, I didn’t think I’d be going on tour on the back of Strictly. I thought I’d have about two months off.”