Gladiators star and Olympic sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey is the primary movie star contestant to be introduced for the Strictly Come Dancing 2025 line-up.
Aikines-Aryeetey, often called Nitro to Gladiators followers, appeared on the BBC’s Newsround on Monday to announce he will probably be becoming a member of the dancing present.
“I am so excited to be a part of the Strictly household this sequence and I am prepared to present all of it I’ve received,” he stated.
Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and iPlayer from September by means of to December.
Aikines-Aryeetey is a former Crew GB sprinter and was the primary athlete to win gold medals at each 100 and 200 metres on the World Youth Championships.
In 2005, aged 17, he was received the BBC Younger Sports activities Character of the 12 months award.
He has competed at two Olympic Video games and is a three-time European champion and two-time Commonwealth champion.
In 2023, he was unveiled as Nitro in Gladiators, and took half in final 12 months’s Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Particular partnered with Nancy Xu.
Aikines-Aryeetey stated the Christmas Particular “was so good I simply needed to do it twice”.
On Monday, he appeared reside within the Newsround studio disguised as “world-famous choreographer Nicky Trott”, there to speak a couple of scientific research into the advantages of dancing daily.
He then revealed his actual identification and informed viewers how excited he was to be becoming a member of the dancing competitors.
“I will be bringing tons of vitality to gentle up the dance ground,” he stated. “Let’s hope I am as fast selecting up the routines as I’m on the observe.”
The subsequent three movie star contestants becoming a member of the brand new sequence of Strictly will probably be introduced on The One Present on Monday night.
Two new skilled dancers are additionally becoming a member of the line-up this 12 months – Alexis Warr, who received US dance sequence So You Suppose You Can Dance in 2022, and Australian-born Julian Caillon, who has appeared as an expert dancer on three seasons of Australia’s Dancing With The Stars.
The present, which has been airing since 2004, has confronted a number of controversies over the previous 12 months regarding the behaviour of a few of its skilled dancers and movie star company.
Skilled dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima left the present final 12 months following allegations about their behaviour in direction of their dance companions.
The BBC introduced new welfare measures for Strictly final July. These embody having chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, including two new welfare producers and offering further coaching for the skilled dancers, manufacturing group and crew.
