Strictly professionals board party bus in launch trailer for new series

Strictly Come Dancing professionals have shown off their dance moves on a party bus in the launch trailer for the show’s upcoming 20th anniversary series.

The short clip marks Welsh dancer Amy Dowden’s return to the line-up after she had to miss the last series due to undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

The pre-recorded launch show is set to air later this month amid a storm of controversy around the hit BBC dance competition over the alleged treatment of former contestants.

The newly released video, which will open the first episode, sees the bus drive across a bridge as purple sparkles pour from it.

It cuts to the professionals dancing, jumping and twirling inside the bus to the pop anthem We Like To Party! (The Vengabus) by Vengaboys.

Among those who feature are the reigning champion Vito Coppola and Dianne Buswell, who got to the final last year with actor Bobby Brazier.

They can be seen grooving alongside a host of fellow professional dancers including Nadiya Bychkova, Kai Widdrington, Katya Jones and Neil Jones.

Aljaz Skorjanec, who is returning to the dance competition following a two-year hiatus, can also be seen donning a maroon cap and blazer as he drives the bus.

Along the way, he picks up professional Lauren Oakley and Dowden, who is wearing a pink dress with yellow flower detailing for her return.

He later collects Carlos Gu, who is donning large rainbow-coloured wings, and Johannes Radebe, who is dressed in a co-ordinating orange set.

Nikita Kuzmin, who came runner-up on Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year, can also be seen beaming as the wind flows through his hair.

The clip ends with the pink and blue-toned bus, which has the name Brucie on the plate in honour of the show’s late host Bruce Forsyth, continuing down the road before the Strictly Come Dancing title appears.

The video will open the doors to the forthcoming 22nd series of Strictly before the professionals dive into a group performance during the launch episode.

Choreographed by Jason Gilkison, the dancers will perform a routine to a medley of tracks including Baby Baby by Corona, Get Ready For This by 2 Unlimited and Pump Up The Jam + Get Up (Before The Night Is Over) by Technotronic.

The launch show will also see the dancers perform an “empowering” routine to celebrate Dowden’s return before it is revealed who the celebrity contestants are paired up with for the series.

The 20th-anniversary series will welcome its first blind contestant in comedian Chris McCausland, who will compete alongside JLS star JB Gill, Go Compare opera singer Wynne Evans, singer Toyah Willcox, Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri and reality TV star Pete Wicks.

Also among the line-up are Gladiator and Olympian Montell Douglas, EastEnders’ Jamie Borthwick, Olympian Tom Dean, singer Shayne Ward, Miranda actress Sarah Hadland, DIY SOS star Nick Knowles, Morning Live resident doctor and NHS GP Dr Punam Krishan, former England footballer Paul Merson and Olympic hockey gold medallist Sam Quek.

Earlier this year, an investigation was launched by the BBC following allegations made about Giovanni Pernice by former participant Amanda Abbington, with the results yet to be made public.

Pernice rejects the allegations.

Fellow dancer Graziano Di Prima has also left the show.

He told the Daily Mail at the weekend that he “wasn’t meaning to kick” his 2023 dance partner Zara McDermott and did not know from where the Love Island star’s allegations had come from.

Ahead of the new series, the BBC said it would introduce new welfare measures including a chaperone who will be present “at all times” during rehearsals.