Strictly Come Dancing's Amy Dowden says return to show is 'beautiful for my family'

Amy Dowden described partner JB Gill as being perfect for her Strictly return
-Credit: (Image: PA Media)


Strictly Come Dancing's Amy Dowden has shared her excitement for tonight's first live performance since her return, describing it as "beautiful for my family".

The 34 year old professional dancer expressed to the PA news agency how her celebrity partner, JLS star JB Gill, has made this 20th anniversary series of the BBC dance show the "perfect comeback" following her battle with breast cancer.

Dowden, who discovered a lump just before her honeymoon in May 2023 and subsequently missed out on the last series of Strictly, announced her return to the show in February after a mastectomy and chemotherapy led to her being declared with "no evidence of disease".

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She spoke warmly about her return, saying: "I'm absolutely loving it, JB's been the perfect comeback for me. I'm just back in my happy place doing what I love most."

Reflecting on the significance of the performance, she added: "I think it's going to be just really lovely (today), because it's going to be beautiful for my family, because they struggled just as much as I did having to watch me go through it."

"Last year's Strictly was a tough watch for them, because it was a reminder of exactly what we were going through. It's going to be one big celebration, this whole series for me."

Dowden is set to perform the waltz to Leo Sayer's "When I Need You" with Gill, who mentioned to PA that their chemistry is "very strong". The 37 year old remarked: "For me, I think it's just trusting Amy, she's the pro for a reason, I trust her judgment."

"We talk a lot, and I think our chemistry is very strong, even from the outset. So, you know, just trusting her decisions, and obviously we will come up with stuff together, and then once we've decided it, that's it, and we go and execute that, so that's my biggest focus in that respect."

Gill reflected on how training was "mind-blowing and eye-opening" given his unfamiliarity with ballroom dancing, which starkly contrasted the choreography he used to perform with JLS. Speaking of his formative days on Strictly, the Croydon-born singer shared: "In the first few days, it was mind-blowing and eye-opening, because it was so completely alien."

"I went home to my wife (professional dancer Chloe Tangney) and just said, this is what I was doing, and going through the counts, and she was like 'what on earth is that? It doesn't even make any sense'. It took a while to sort of get into the swing of things, but the body of course is going through lots of different changes as well."

Detailing the physical demands, he said: "It's a waltz, so it's not as impactful, should I say, as perhaps some other styles on the body. But you still feel it, there's certain things, like when you're holding your frame as well as your shoulders, your back, your neck even, because the positioning has got to be right if you're doing it correctly, even your hands have got to stay tense, so you've got tension in your hands as well.

"So all those sorts of things you don't perhaps expect and (they've) sort of come out in the wash this last couple of weeks, but we're in good shape."

The first week of Strictly Come Dancing series 22 will be broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer at 7pm.