Strictly Come Dancing bosses have axed four pro dancers as competitors from the upcoming series.
Neil Jones, Nadiya Bychkova, Graziano di Prima and Nancy Xu all won’t have celebrity partners on this year’s show, the BBC have confirmed.
The decision comes as it was announced there will only be 12 couples this year, rather than the usual 15, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The show will also begin two weeks later than usual due to the new measures.
Dancers AJ Pritchard and Kevin Clifton will also be missing after quitting the show last year.
Strictly Executive Producer Sarah James explained how celebs are able to dance with professionals as she spoke out.
Neil Jones is reportedly ‘devastated’ over the announcement (Image: WireImage)
She said: “The way we’re doing that is by doing two different things – we’re using close contact cohort, which is an industry workplace guideline, and also bubbles.
“Close contact cohorts apply to people who need to work more closely together and break social distancing in order to do their job.
“To be in a CCC you have to be with just one person and you are regularly tested to be in a CCC.
Nadiya Bychkova won’t have a partner this year (Image: WireImage)
“On top of that we are also asking our celebrities and dancers to be part of an exclusive support bubble, which means that one half of the party has to live alone. So either the dancer or the celebrity will be living alone in order to form the exclusive support bubble.”
Continuing to discuss how that would affect those who were not partnered with a celebrity, she added: “We have four professional dancers who won’t be partnering celebrities this year – they are Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones, Graziano di Prima and Nancy Xu.
Graziano di Prima will not be paired with a celeb either (Image: Getty Images)
“So we have two males and two females who perform CCCs together and they’ll be able to dance in the guest music acts.”
Neil was partnered with Alex Jones last year, while Nadiya was with footballer David James.
Graziano has only had one celebrity partner in 2018, when he danced with radio presenter DJ Vick Hope.
Neil is said to be “devastated” to not receive a celebrity this year after his success with England footballer Alex last year.
The 38-year-old was paired up on the show for the first time last year since joining the programme in 2016.
Meanwhile, Neil’s ex-wife Katya has been tipped to be paired up with boxer Nicola Adams in the first same-sex Strictly pair.
Strictly Come Dancing returns in October on BBC One
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
