Strictly Come Dancing pro confirms shock return to show as they're seen in studio

Strictly pro confirms shock return to show as they're seen in studio

A Strictly Come Dancing favourite has confirmed their shock return to the show after posting a photo from inside the BBC studio.

Kevin Clifton, 42, who quit the series in 2020, announced he wouldn't be returning to the star-studded staple, saying that he wanted to focus on "other areas of his career." However, on Friday night he took to his Instagram Stories with an un-captioned photo of the glitzy BBC studio, which was taken from behind the judges' table.

The dancing professional, who shares a daughter, Minnie, one, with Stacey Dooley, who he met on Strictly, is currently playing Billy Flynn in the UK tour of Chicago. However, fans would love Kevin to return to the dance floor for Halloween Week, with some taking to X, formerly Twitter, saying that Strictly "isn't the same" without him after spotting his Instagram 'reveal'.

Kevin appeared on Strictly from 2013 to 2019 and performed in every year's final bar 2017's and 2019's. However, in March 2020, he announced he was off to pastures new.

In 2021, the dancer spilled some secrets about the show and hinted that one of the professional twirlers "made it obvious" that they didn't like their celebrity partner in a resurfaced interview. Spilling the beans on his podcast with his sister, Kevin slammed someone, who he claimed had been incredibly vocal about their celebrity pairing.

He went on to say: "It doesn't happen very often, [but] I have seen it. I won't name names, but I have seen it from someone who was not happy with their pairing and they made it quite obvious."

His comments couldn't have resurfaced at a more testing time for the broadcaster after Giovanni Pernice left the show when Amanda Abbington accused the Italian of bullying her.

After the results of the BBC's investigation, which cleared Giovanni of the most serious claims made by the actress, the Sicilian went on the Lorraine show to tell his side of the story.

Vowing to set the record straight, admitting he found the Strictly scandal "very concerning". The professional dancer claimed he and Amanda had never had an argument during training, insisting that he believed their relationship was "perfect".

However, countering, Amanda's team told The Sun: "Mr Pernice’s claim that 'everything in the rehearsal room worked perfectly' is false and delusional, and underlines the toxic culture Ms Abbington endured on Strictly Come Dancing.

"The BBC’s own investigation concluded that Mr Pernice was in breach of multiple BBC Policies, including repeated breaches of the Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy. Mr Pernice was spoken to by the BBC on several occasions about his misconduct - but his behaviour only continued.

"At no time did Ms Abbington regard his verbal abuse or inappropriate behaviour as banter. This is precisely the kind of gaslighting behaviour which victims of bullying and harassment often have to endure: it’s these people Ms Abbington will continue to speak up for."

*Strictly is on BBC One on Saturday at 6.25pm

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