Excitement is building with just weeks until the BBC One dance competition begins its 2025 series
Strictly Come Dancing judges (Image: PA)
Strictly Come Dancing fans think they’ve noticed changes happening to the judges as the 2025 series begins.
It’s only a few weeks now until we have the “da-da-da-da-da-daah” ringing in our ears as we settle in front of the TV all fall and right into winter, thanks to the return of the hit dance show.
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will return as hosts, while Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke will return to the judging panel.
Those who follow the hit show will also know which professional dancers will be returning to the ballroom this year. In April, it was confirmed that Amy Dowden, Nadiya Bychkova, Karen Hauer, Nikita Kuzmin, Neil Jones, Gorka Marquez and Luba Mushtuk were involved in the 2025 series.
Dianne Buswell, Katya Jones, Jowita Przystal, Johannes Radebe, Michelle Tsiakkas, Aljaž Škorjanec, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley and Vito Coppola will also make their way to the ballroom.
They will be joined by two brand new professional dancers, So You Think You Can Dance champion Alexis Warr and Australian Dancing with the Stars’ Julianne Kylon.
Meanwhile, there will also be a bunch of new famous faces set to take to the ballroom floor. The celebrity lineup, slated for Strictly 2025, was thought to have been finalized earlier this month, however it was later revealed that Christian Nairn had to pull out, citing medical issues.
Hours after the news was confirmed, Lewis Cope – who is best known for playing Nicky Milligan in ITV’s Emmerdale – was confirmed to be Christian’s replacement, once again completing Strictly’s celebrity line-up for 2025.
Preparations are now underway for the new series, with 15 famous faces taking to the dance floor this year revealing their Pro partner for the first time.
This also means they are filming for the upcoming launch, which has been pre-recorded and is currently expected to air on September 20th, and Chris Robshaw is among those updating his followers on social media.
Chris was seen looking serious in the ballroom (Image: Chris Robshaw Instagram)
Taking to Instagram, the former England rugby captain shared a video from inside the recognisable Elstree Studios and told the camera: “Here we go! Officially onto the Strictly Come Dancing dance floor and suddenly it’s become very, very real.”
“I’m absolutely not scared. The scared judges are sitting right there, so we want to surprise the mighty Craig and get some good points from him. And if not, just have a great time trying to dance.”
Captioning the clip, Chris wrote: “First steps on a hard dance floor… and the nerves are real, but so is the excitement. Can’t wait to learn, laugh and give it a go.”
Since then, Reddit and fans think they’ve noticed a change in the judges and tables they see sitting around each weekend.
Alongside Chris’s video script, HeartsForariana said: “It looks like the judges are back at the same table instead of the podiums they’ve been at since Covid.”
Thomcat2000 replied, “Honestly, I’m glad it’s back on the table, I think the individual podiums make them look like game show contestants…. DTMS7458 cheered, “OG is back.” Frankiekowalski added, “Looooove this change! Can’t wait to hopefully see two judges scoring in the same frame again.”
