Each year Strictly Come Dancing announces a new batch of contestants to strut their stuff on the ballroom, with each of them partnered with a world-class professional dancer.
Strictly 2022’s line-up is still being announced, but not all of the 20 pro dancers are returning to join them.
Four new pros have been confirmed to make their debut on the BBC series, but Aljaz Skorjanec and Oti Mabuse both quit the show earlier this year.
Oti’s exit is especially surprising for fans, as her sister, Motsi Mabuse, is returning in September as a judge once again.
It's Oti's 32nd birthday today (August 8) and the star has plenty of reasons to celebrate with new projects on the horizon
Why did Oti Mabuse quit Strictly Come Dancing?
Oti Mabuse’s time on Strictly Come Dancing has been a huge success for the ballroom dancer.
She won both the 2019 and 2022 series, alongside Kelvin Fletcher and Bill Bailey respectively.
Oti had been planning her exit for a long time, admitting that she already knew she was going to leave before the previous year’s series.
She said she wanted to leave at “the peak” of her Strictly success, but revealed that she still “cried for hours” after telling BBC bosses about her decision.
Speaking to You magazine earlier this year, she said: “When I came to Britain I said to myself, ’My dream is to win Strictly.′
“And I have, and it was such an amazing seven years, but I’ve done what I needed to do."
The dancer wanted to pursue her TV career, with her exit from the BBC series allowing her to take on new projects.
She has since been a judge on Dancing on Ice, appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox and The Masked Dancer.
Oti continued: “I feel so emotional. I lived my best life on that show, and it gave me the career I have now, but you need to know when it’s the right time to get off that wave and try new things.
“I didn’t want to hold on and get to the point where I wasn’t happy any more.
“I left when I was at the peak, in terms of working on the show. It feels like I’m leaving family behind – even the backstage team, the people viewers don’t get to see – but when you know it’s time to go, you know.”
Which professional dancers are returning for Strictly 2022?
There will be 20 professional dancers in Strictly 2022, with four of them making their debut on the BBC series.
These are Chinese National Champion Carlos Gu, former Under-21 British National Champion Lauren Oakley, Latin dance champion Michelle Tsiakkas and European cup winner Vito Coppola.
The returning dancers are Dianne Buswell, Nadiya Bychkova, Graziano Di Prima, Amy Dowden, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Nikita Kuzmin, Cameron Lombard, Gorka Marquez, Luba Mushtuk, Giovanni Pernice, Jowita Przystal, Johannes Radebe, Kai Widdrington and Nancy Xu.
