{"id":632834,"date":"2026-06-11T09:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/632834\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T09:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:54:13","slug":"strictly-lineup-announcement-live-another-celebrity-contestant-set-to-be-confirmed-by-bbc-after-lacey-turner-signs-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/632834\/","title":{"rendered":"Strictly lineup announcement live: Another celebrity contestant set to be confirmed by BBC after Lacey Turner signs up"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>‘EastEnders’ stars who’ve swapped Albert Square for ‘Strictly’ ballroom<\/p>\n

Strictly Come Dancing may have changed over the years but there\u2019s always been one constant: an EastEnders star in the cast. <\/p>\n

There has been an actor from the BBC soap on every series of Strictly since it first started in 2004 \u2013 except for the 11th series in 2013. <\/p>\n

While Lacey Turner is the latest to take part, we\u2019ve seen a number of Walford residents waltz their way to victory \u2013 from Jill Halfpenny in 2004 and Kara Tointon in 2010 to Rose Ayling-Ellis, the show\u2019s first deaf contestant, winning in 2021. <\/p>\n

Turner won\u2019t be the first member of Albert Square\u2019s Slater family to take on the show; in previous years, we\u2019ve seen Jessie Wallace (Kat Slater) and Bobby Brazier (Freddie Slater), while her on-screen husband James Bye (who played the late Martin Fowler) competed in 2022. Balvinder Sopal, who plays Suki Panesar on the soap, was the latest star to compete \u2013 reaching the semi-final last year. <\/p>\n

\"'EastEnders'‘EastEnders’ star Balvinder Sopal on ‘Strictly’ with Julian Caillon last year (PA)<\/p>\n

Lauren Morris11 June 2026 10:30<\/p>\n

<\/a>Lacey Turner: ‘I’m so excited and so terrified’ <\/p>\n

The EastEnders<\/a> star announced her stint on Strictly in a video shared to the show\u2019s Instagram Stories \u2013 with the actor revealing that she finally signed up after watching \u201cso many friends\u201d do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t quite believe that I\u2019m actually saying this, but I want to let you in on a little secret,\u201d she said in the video. \u201cThis September, I will be taking my little toes onto the dance floor to do Strictly Come Dancing. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe it. I\u2019m so excited and so terrified at the same time but I\u2019ve had so many friends do Strictly and I thought it was about time that I plucked up the courage and made my way onto that dance floor so there you go. Secret\u2019s out! See you there in September!\u201d <\/p>\n

Over the last few years, we\u2019ve seen EastEnders stars Balvinder Sopal, Jamie Borthwick, Bobby Brazier and James Bye compete on the show. <\/p>\n

\"LaceyLacey Turner announces that she’s doing ‘Strictly’ (BBC)<\/p>\n

Lauren Morris11 June 2026 09:30<\/p>\n

<\/a>When will the next ‘Strictly’ contestant be announced? <\/p>\n

The Independent understands that the full celebrity line-up for 2026 will be announced over the next two weeks \u2013 so it\u2019s very likely that we\u2019ll be getting a new Strictly star every day. <\/p>\n

So far, we\u2019ve had EastEnders\u2019 Lacey Turner officially join the line-up \u2013 but who\u2019ll be next?<\/p>\n

\"\"(PA)<\/p>\n

Lauren Morris11 June 2026 09:25<\/p>\n

<\/a>Lacey Turner announced as first ‘Strictly’ contestant for 2026<\/p>\n

The EastEnders star is officially the first celebrity to enter the Strictly ballroom later this year \u2013 with the show sharing the news yesterday (Wednesday 10 June). <\/p>\n

\u201cI am so excited to being making my way to the dance floor this year to be a part of Strictly Come Dancing!\u201d she said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am a huge fan and can\u2019t quite believe I will be taking part and not watching at home this year! I look forward to meeting everyone and learning a new skill!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LaceyLacey Turner is the first \u2018Strictly\u2019 contestant to be announced (Getty)<\/p>\n

Lauren Morris11 June 2026 08:31<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘EastEnders’ stars who’ve swapped Albert Square for ‘Strictly’ ballroom Strictly Come Dancing may have changed over the years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,33299,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-632834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-strictly-come-dancing-2025","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}