BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Lauren Oakley says comments 'coming in thick and fast' after surprise appearance

Lauren Oakley was quick to laugh of the comments coming in 'think and fast' over her surprise appearance during the latest Strictly Come Dancing results show.

There was a huge change for the professional dance over the weekend as she was drafted in to replace Amy Dowden during what would have been her latest live performance with celebrity dance partner JB Gill on Saturday night (November 2).

Welsh dancer Amy recently "fell ill" and was forced to miss a week in rehearsals and therefore the latest live show. Lauren, who does not have a celebrity pairing on this year's series of the BBC One dance competition, instead stepped in and she rehearsed with JB before joining him to perform the live couple's choice routine to a Bruno Mars medley during Strictly's first-ever 'Icons Week'.

READ MORE: BBC Strictly Come Dancing's JB Gill breaks silence on 'heartbreaking' Amy Dowden exit

The performance saw pair bag JLS star JB's first 10s of the series, resulting in a near-perfect score of 39 out of a possible 40 points. But Amy's exit from the hit dance show this year has since been confirmed during Monday night's (November 4) edition of Strictly spin-off It Takes Two.

It means Lauren will continue in Amy's place alongside JB for the remainder of the competition, but aside from her new role as a competing pro in Strictly's 20th-anniversary series, the Birmingham-born star will continue to be seen in the show's upcoming pro numbers.

And they'll have a lot to follow after the most recent routine saw Johannes Radebe channel his inner Sasha Fierce as the protagonist in the routine to a dazzling Beyoncé medley which boasted bejewelled cowboy hats, power ballad moves and sparkling sass.

But at one point, all eyes were on Lauren who had ditched her usual short brunette locks for a long black wig which left some doing a double take as they thought Strictly co-host Claudia Winkleman had put her dancing shoes. Lauren has since shared pictures of the glamourous look on social media to which former Strictly star and documentary maker Stacey Dooley responded: "U LOOK MEGAAAAAAAAAAAAAA."

However, the look prompted some to suggest Lauren should grow her hair, which comes after she was forced to hit back at similar comments last year. Sharing her latest post to her Instagram Story, Lauren wrote: "& the 'you should have long har' comments are coming in thick and fast," adding a crying laughing emoji.

Last year, when hit with similar comments, Lauren said: "Alllll the comments on my long hair last week saying I ‘should’ have long hair. I’m good thanks," adding a smiley face emoji. She continued: "Girls don’t have to have long hair to feel pretty. Boys don’t have to have short hair to feel handsome. Nobody has to be a certain way! Just make yourself happy."

She then later followed up her post by sending another message on X, formerly known as Twitter, which said: "Not annoyed or offended by the hair comments ps. Just a polite reminder to have confidence in yourself!"