Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden won’t feature on Saturday night’s show (2 November) after falling ill backstage during filming last weekend (26 October).
Fellow pro dancer Lauren Oakley will instead partner JB Gill, star from boy band JLS and television presenter, for the “couple’s choice” dance in Saturday’s instalment of Strictly.
An ambulance was summoned to Elstree Studios in Borehamwood on 26 October after Dowden, 34, fell ill backstage during the show and was taken to hospital. A spokesperson for the dancer later said that the ambulance was “just a precaution”.
A spokesperson for Strictly Come Dancing added: “Amy Dowden MBE is doing much better and the Strictly family send her love and wish her well.
"She is delighted that fellow professional dancer, Lauren Oakley, is able to step in for rehearsals and to perform in Saturday’s show for JB Gill’s couple’s choice dance. We are all hopeful that Amy will be back to dance with JB next week."
After reading the statement on Strictly sister programme It Takes Two on Monday, presenter Fleur East said: “Sending you lots of love Amy and hope to see you soon.”
Dowden’s management company said she was “resting” and would be supporting Gill and Oakley during this weekend’s show.
Strictly bosses previously announced that Oakley would train with Gill on Monday, but since confirmed that the pair would stay together for the rest of the week, including for the performance on Saturday and the results show on Sunday.
After passing through Sunday night’s results show, Gill wrote on Instagram: “On behalf of both Amy Dowden and I, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone for voting for us and wishing us well.
“We absolutely loved our performance on Saturday night and are so grateful to be through to another week on Strictly. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support.”
Oakley, who came eighth when partnered with Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy in the show’s previous season, did not have a partner this year. She joined the show in 2022.
Gill and Dowden performed a foxtrot to “Dancing in the Moonlight” by Toploader last Saturday, scoring 32 before the professional dancer fell ill backstage. She did not attend the results show last Sunday.
Dowden had returned to the line-up this year after missing the 2023 series when she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in May 2023 aged just 32, after finding a lump on her breast the day before going on her honeymoon.
She began chemotherapy later that year when she was diagnosed with another type of cancer. Despite medical concerns following a check-up early this year, Dowden was given the all-clear by doctors.
Dowden also has Crohn’s disease, a lifelong gut disease which causes chronic bowel inflammation.
