BBC Strictly Come Dancing star returning to show after years away because 'he felt like' coming back

Aljaz Skorjanec has opened up on why he REALLY returned to BBC Strictly Come Dancing - having quit the show two years ago. Aljaz is paired up with Love Island star Tasha Ghouri and the pair are red-hot favourites to win the Glitterball Trophy.

“I replaced nobody,” he told the Mirror newspaper, after stepping into the breach when Graziano di Prima and Giovanni Pernice were both axed amid a storm over their behaviour towards celebrity partners. Aljaz, who hails from Slovenia, shares a daughter, baby Lyra Rose, with partner Janette Manrara.

He told the newspaper: “I felt like coming back. I decided myself to step away, and then I came back into my own dancing shoes. And I'm still doing Strictly exactly the same way as I did before I left. And I'm really happy. I'm proud of it.”

READ MORE: BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Sarah Hadland told she'll be forced to miss final

READ MORE: BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Vito Coppola flooded with comments as he 'finally shares' personal announcement

READ MORE Urgent 'stay at home' warning issued over nasty bug 'sweeping all age groups'

Tasha has now shortened back into second favourite to win this year's Strictly Come Dancing after scoring a perfect 40 on Saturday night's show. Tasha had previously been top of the Strictly leaderboard six times and been one point away from the perfect score on three occasions and this weekend finally saw her given a 10 by Craig Revel Horwood for a 40.

Betting odds had previously seen her drift out to third favourite to win the show in recent weeks following strong performances from Sarah Hadland but Ghouri has shortened once again this series. "Tasha Ghouri has now moved back into second favourite to win this year's Strictly Come Dancing after she scored a perfect 40 on Saturday night with yet another stunning performance", said Jake Ashton - Entertainment Betting Expert - OLBG.com.

William Hill's latest betting market puts Tasha at 9/2 to win the show with those odds giving an implied probability of 18.2% that she lifts the famous glitterball trophy at the end of the series.