Model Ellie Goldstein announced as latest celebrity for Strictly Come Dancing
Goldstein said: 'I'm absolutely over the moon to be joining the cast and pros of Strictly Come Dancing this year. It's a show I've loved watching for so long, and the chance to now be part of it feels like a dream.
A post shared by BBC Strictly (@bbcstrictly)
'I know it's going to be challenging, but I'm ready to do it with the glitter and glamour and make some magic on that dancefloor. Let the Strictly journey begin.'
Goldstein's appearance on the show was announced on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday.
She made history in 2023 as the first model with Down's syndrome to make the cover of British Vogue, and she has also featured on the covers of Glamour, Elle, Mission Mag and Euphoria, as well as campaigns for brands such as Gucci Beauty and Adidas.
Two years ago, Goldstein partnered with Mattel to launch the first Barbie with Down's syndrome, and she recently starred in a guest lead role in CBBC's Mallory Towers.
She also works with charity Mencap to challenge misconceptions about people with learning disabilities.
Jon Sparkes, the charity's chief executive, said: 'We are so proud to see our Mencap myth buster Ellie revealed as a celebrity dancer for this year's Strictly. Ellie has never been afraid to push boundaries, and this is just another way to show what people with a learning disability can achieve with the right support.
'At Mencap we know how important it is for people to feel seen, included and recognised.
'We really hope that seeing Ellie do her thing on a Saturday night will start important conversations among the millions of viewers, so we can all move towards a more inclusive society.
'It shouldn't be unusual to see someone with a learning disability sharing their talents and we hope this prompts more shows to include them. Go Ellie, we are with you all the way.'
RuPaul's Drag Race UK star La Voix and former England rugby player Chris Robshaw were also announced as contestants during Scott Mills BBC Radio 2 Show on Wednesday.
La Voix said: 'I've performed for royalty, RuPaul and Simon Cowell, but nothing fills me with more excitement, and quite a bit of terror, than the thought of dancing in front of millions on live Saturday night TV.
'Strictly is a national institution and I can't wait to get started. All that's left to say is, good luck to my partner. Here's hoping they can help me go from La Voix into La Danse.'
Robshaw added: 'This is about as far out of my comfort zone as it gets. I'm hoping to take my dad dancing to a whole new level, and my mum can't wait to drag me along to her Zumba class.
'Let's see if a rugby sidestep works in the Cha Cha Cha.'
It comes after podcast host and YouTube star George Clarke was announced as the sixth celebrity contestant on Tuesday during BBC Radio 1's Going Home drivetime show.
Clarke, also known as George Clarkey, said: 'Never thought I'd say this… but I'm doing Strictly! Honestly, I've got no idea what I'm doing but I'm excited to get stuck in… and potentially fall over a fair bit.'
On the same day, EastEnders actress Balvinder Sopal was revealed as a contestant during a segment filmed live from Albert Square on ITV's Good Morning Britain.
She said that 'being on Strictly is a dream that I held on to, with no proof that it would ever happen'.
The other stars confirmed to be competing are Love Island winner Dani Dyer-Bowen, Gladiators star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Doctor Who actress Alex Kingston and former footballer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
In July, the BBC announced that two 'incredible' new professional dancers, US-born Alexis Warr and Australian dancer Julian Caillon, would be joining the show.
The popular show, hosted by Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer in September with Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas on the judges' table.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
BBC branded 'childish' as over half of Gregg Wallace's 'recipes are removed from broadcaster's food website' amid star's MasterChef axe
The BBC have been branded 'childish' by frustrated food lovers after over half of Gregg Wallace 's were reportedly removed from the broadcaster's food website. The disgraced MasterChef host, 60, was recently dismissed from the cooking show after more than 40 complaints against him were upheld following a BBC investigation. And in the wake of his axing, it appears that the BBC have taken further action as a number of his recipes appear to have vanished from BBC Food website, leaving some users angry. The Sun reports that six of 11 dishes by the former greengrocer have disappeared since Gregg was sacked last month. Fallen dishes are said to include a sausage and lentil soup, a raspberry marinated rack of lamb and mince pie ice-cream. One fan took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to complain about the removal, sparking a flurry of comments from other disgruntled people. The disgraced MasterChef host, 60, was recently dismissed from the cooking show after more than 40 complaints against him were upheld following a BBC investigation They penned: 'BBC Good Food have removed a recipe I liked from their website because it was from Gregg Wallace. Can't we separate the art from the artist.' To which others replied: ' Yeah, it's frustrating when good content disappears over drama... Shame though, recipes shouldn't need a moral background check.' 'Seems childish. I'm never going to stop listening to Michael Jackson - I don't care about his problematic private life.' 'Can't believe they're actually scrubbing recipes over this - feels like such an overreaction. If the market's already spoken on his content, let it be. Kinda reminds me of @EthanTaylorG7's point about letting audiences decide.' The publication reports that other website users fumed: 'another stupid cancellation by the BBC'. 'Whatever you think of the guy, it was hardly his recipes that were the problem.' Daily Mail have contacted the BBC for comment. It comes days after in its latest episode, with viewers declaring: 'Is this for real?' Just a handful of Gregg's recipes remain on the BBC Food website One fan took to X, formerly known as Twitter , to complain about the removal, sparking a flurry of comments from other disgruntled people Gregg and co-host John Torode were sacked after almost 20 years on the show by the BBC last month after an investigation upheld allegations about their poor behaviour. Wallace had 40 complaints upheld, including one where he was accused of wandering around set naked with a sock on his penis. Torode was found to have used a racist term in 2018. Their final series of MasterChef was filmed before they were both fired. The show's bosses have insisted on keeping them in the final edit - but only if they were on screen less and their banter and jokes were cut down to a minimum. Several contestants asked to be edited out themselves to avoid being on screen with them. Daily Mail revealed that viewers have pointed out 'disgraceful' edits in the new series on BBC One and iPlayer, with many cuts appearing awkward and repetitive, including those of Mr Wallace. In one scene shown last week, stills of Gregg pulling the same face three times in around a minute made it to air - with many suggesting that the BBC and production company Banijay used the same footage of the disgraced host repeatedly through the show. Some of his fans have even claimed the edits, where Gregg gives a semi-gurning smile, were deliberately to embarrass him and 'make him look demented'. TikTok user Gingernat Design shared a particularly unusual example, writing: 'Clever editing fromMasterchef TikTok user Gingernat Design shared a particularly unusual example, writing: 'Clever editing from MasterChef. 'Whether this is to do with the allegations or not I don't know, but it's jokes how they just froze Gregg Wallace for an entire conversation.' The now-viral clip sees a contestant discuss her performance with Torode and Wallace. The same shot of Wallace appears to be used three times in succession - and he is seen with a broad grin fixed on his face. The uncanny scene has horrified fans, who rushed to social media to express their disapproval.
Sky News
30 minutes ago
- Sky News
BBC and Channel 4 should 'merge' to survive, Sir Phil Redmond says
One of Britain's most legendary TV dramatists, Sir Phil Redmond, is no stranger to tackling difficult issues on screen. Courting controversy famously with his hard-hitting storylines on his children's show Grange Hill for the BBC in 1978, before he switched over to Channel 4 to give it its two most prominent soaps, Brookside (1982) and later Hollyoaks (1995). He's been a pivotal figure at Channel 4 from its inception, widely considered to be a father to the channel. Image: Sir Phil Redmond says the BBC and Channel 4 should team up to survive While he's been responsible for putting some of TV's most impactful storylines to air for them - from the first lesbian kiss, to bodies buried under patios - off-screen nowadays, he's equally radical about what should happen. "Channel 4's job in 1980 was to provide a platform for the voices, ideas, and people that weren't able to break through into television. They did a fantastic job. I was part of that, and now it's done." It's not that he wants to kill off Channel 4 but - as broadcasting bosses gather for Edinburgh's annual TV Festival - he believes they urgently should be talking about mergers. A suggestion which goes down about as well as you might imagine, he says, when he brings it up with those at the top. He laughs: "The people with the brains think it's a good idea, the people who've got the expense accounts think it's horrendous." Image: Some of the original Grange Hill cast collecting a BAFTA special award in 2001. Pic: Shutterstock A 'struggling' BBC trying to 'survive' With charter renewal talks under way to determine the BBC's future funding, Sir Phil says "there's only one question, and that is what's going to happen to the BBC?" "We've got two public sector broadcasters - the BBC and Channel 4 - both owned by the government, by us as the taxpayers, and what they're trying to do now is survive, right? "No bureaucracy ever deconstructs itself… the BBC is struggling… Channel 4 has got about a billion quid coming in a year. If you mix that, all the transmissions, all the back office stuff, all the technical stuff, all that cash… you can keep that kind of coterie of expertise on youth programming and then say 'don't worry about the money, just go out and do what you used to do, upset people!'." Image: Brookside's lesbian kiss between Margaret and Beth (L-R Nicola Stapleton and Anna Friel) was groundbreaking TV. Pic: Shutterstock How feasible would that be? Redmond claims, practically, you could pull it off in a week - "we could do it now, it's very simple, it's all about keyboards and switches". But the screenwriter admits that winning people over mentally to his way of thinking would take a few years of persuading. As for his thoughts on what could replace the BBC licence fee, he says charging people to download BBC apps on their phones seems like an obvious source of income. "There are 25 million licences and roughly 90 million mobile phones. If you put a small levy on each mobile phone, you could reduce the actual cost of the licence fee right down, and then it could just be tagged on to VAT. "Those parts are just moving the tax system around a bit. [then] you wouldn't have to worry about all the criminality and single mothers being thrown in jail, all this kind of nonsense." Image: Original Brookside stars at BAFTA - L:R: Michael Starke, Dean Sullivan, Claire Sweeney and Sue Jenkins. Pic: PA 'Subsidising through streaming is not the answer' Earlier this year, Peter Kosminsky, the director of historical drama Wolf Hall, suggested a levy on UK streaming revenues could fund more high-end British TV on the BBC. Sir Phil describes that as "a sign of desperation". "If you can't actually survive within your own economic basis, you shouldn't be doing it. "I don't think top slicing or subsidising one aspect of the business is the answer, you have to just look at the whole thing as a totality." Image: Mark Rylance (L) and Damian Lewis in Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light. Pic: BBC Since selling his production company, Mersey Television, two decades ago, much of his current work has focused on acting as an ambassador for the culture and creative industries. Although he's taken a step away from television, he admits he's disappointed by how risk-averse programme makers appear to have become. "Dare I say it? There needs to be an intellectual foundation to it all." Image: The Hollyoaks cast in 1995. Pic: Shutterstock TV's 'missing a trick' He believes TV bosses are too scared of being fined by Ofcom, and that's meant soaps are not going as far as they should. "The benefits [system], you know, immigration, all these things are really relevant subjects for drama to bring out all the arguments, the conflicts. "The majority of the people know the benefits system is broken, that it needs to be fixed because they see themselves living on their estate with a 10 or 12-year-old car and then there's someone else down the road who knows how to fill a form in, and he's driving around in a £65k BMW, right? Those debates would be really great to bring out on TV, they're missing a trick." While some of TV's biggest executives are slated to speak at the Edinburgh Television Festival, Redmond is not convinced they will be open to listening. "They will go where the perceived wisdom is as to where the industry is going. The fact that the industry is taking a wrong turn, we really need somebody else to come along and go 'Oi!'" When I ask if that could be him, he laughs. Cue dramatic music and closing credits. As plot twists go, the idea of one of TV's most radical voices making a boardroom comeback to stir the pot, realistic or not, is at the very least food for thought for the industry. Edinburgh TV Festival runs from 19 - 22 August.
Press and Journal
an hour ago
- Press and Journal
Aberdeen father-and-daughter duo win £3.5k on BBC music quiz show The Hit List
An Aberdeen father-and-daughter duo have won a £3,500 prize on a popular BBC music quiz show. Football coach Aimee Culley and dad Mark appeared on The Hit List on Saturday night. The programme, hosted by singers Rochelle and Marvin Humes, sees contestants name as many hit songs as they can to win up to £10,000. The pair were up against Joel and Caitlin from Coventry and Sam and Hannah from Felixstowe. In the first round, the players had to name hits from the past five decades by identifying the songs from a brief clip. Former footballer Aimee, who works for Montrose Women, and Mark successfully named three out of five songs. Then, teams were asked to guess songs that had won Brit Awards and were given the chance to guess another song to win a bonus point. It was easy work for Mark and Aimee, who identified songs by Pink, Eurythmics and Cliff Richard, as well as three bonus tracks. Aimee correctly named Lewis Capaldi's Grace to reach 10 points, meaning Sam and Hannah were eliminated. Next, the duo went head-to-head with Joe and Caitlin. With 45 seconds on the clock and three skip options, contestants were given a clue and the start of a track. They had to name songs as quickly as possible. Aimee and her dad stormed ahead in this round, successfully identifying songs by artists including The Beach Boys, Nelly Furtado and Charli XCX. They had 22 seconds and two skips left when Joe and Caitlin were knocked out. That left Aimee and Mark to take on the final round and play for £10,000 by naming 10 songs and artists. The more time they took, the less money they would end up with. It was a rocky start, with the money dropping to £9,310 before they guessed Christina Aguilera's Candyman. There was a tense moment as Aimee and Mark had to skip six songs they did not know as the clock ran down, finally identifying Facination by Alphabeat at the £4,562 mark. The pair finished strongly, only skipping two more songs before Aimee named Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paloma Faith to secure £3,598, which she said would help her celebrate her birthday. Montrose FC Women congratulated the duo on Facebook, saying: 'The pair absolutely smashed it, walking away with a great win. 'Looks like that big birthday party invite is definitely in the post now. 'Well done Team Culley!'
