‘Strictly Come Dancing’ bosses have announced three new additions to this year’s series, revealing that Graziano Di Prima, Luba Mushtuk and Johannes Radebe will be joining as professional dancers.
Their arrivals mean the new series of ‘Strictly’ will have 18 professionals - the highest number ever.
They replace departing stars Brendan Cole, who announced his exit earlier this year, and Chloe Hewitt, who has long been rumoured to be heading for the door.
Here’s what we know about the new pros so far…
Johannes Radebe
Age: 31
From: South Africa
What you need to know: Two-time South African Latin Champion Johannes has been a professional dancer on his home country’s version of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ for two seasons. Given that he’s reached the final both times, he’ll definitely be one to watch.
Johannes also dances with the Afro Arimba Dance Company.
Luba Mushtu
Age: 28
From: Russia
What you need to know: Luba has been part of ‘Strictly’ since 2016, when she joined as an assistant choreographer, working on the group routines. Now, her time has finally come to step into the spotlight as a professional, and she definitely has plenty experience that will help.
Luba has perhaps the most impressive CV of all three new arrivals; she’s the four-time winner of the Italian Dance Championship and Italian Open Latin Show Dance champion, was ranked 2nd in the European 10 Dance Championships and has previously made it to the Latin European Championship finals.
She was also part of dance company ‘Burn The Floor’ - performing in the West End and on Broadway - and has performed on live tours with Giovanni Pernice, Kevin and Karen Clifton.
Graziano Di Prima
Age: 24
From: Sicily
What you need to know: Graziano is an Italian Lation champion, who has represented Belgium at the World Championships.
For the past three years, he’s toured with Burn The Floor - which also counts Kevin Clifton, Janette Manrara, Aljaž Škorjanec and fellow newbie Luba among its alumni.
The new trio will be joined by returning dancers AJ Pritchard, Aljaž Škorjanec, Amy Dowden, Anton Du Beke, Dianne Buswell, Giovanni Pernice, Gorka Marquez, Janette Manrara, Karen Clifton, Katya Jones, Kevin Clifton, Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones, Oti Mabuse and Pasha Kovalev.
BBC bosses are yet to confirm an exact date but its expected that ‘Strictly’ will return to our screens in mid-August, two weeks after the line-up confirmations take place.
So far, numerous stars have been linked with the show and reports have claimed Maya Jama and Anneka Rice could be among the stars signing up.
