The launch date for the 2025 series of Strictly Come Dancing has been announced – and fans don’t have much longer left to wait for its return.
This year’s series will kick off on Saturday 20 September with the BBC dance competition’s usual pre-recorded launch programme.
Celebrity contestants, including Dani Dyer, Alex Kingston and YouTube star George Clarke, will be paired up with their professional dance partners during the launch episode, as well as showing off their moves in a group dance ahead of their first official routine.
Saturday live shows will kick off a week later and the first Sunday results programme will air on Sunday, 5 October, where the first celebrity to leave the show will be announced.
The BBC has also revealed that the Strictly Come Dancing final will take place days before Christmas on Saturday 20 December.
Additionally Strictly’s famous Blackpool week, which takes place in the seaside town’s iconic Tower Ballroom, has been scheduled for Saturday 22 November.
All of the 15 celebrities taking part in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing competition have now been revealed.
Love Island winner Dani Dyer, Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison and rugby player Chris Robshaw are all among this year’s contestants.
They are joined by TikTok personality George Clarke, Gladiators star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, ER actor Alex Kingston and Dutch footballer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
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Game of Thrones actor Kristian Nairn, former England footballer Karen Carney and Good Morning Britain presenter Ross King will also be taking to the dancefloor.
One 2025 celebrity who’s sparked online backlash ahead of the new series is former The Apprentice star Thomas Skinner, who recently met US vice president JD Vance for a barbecue and drinks.
The social media personality befriended US President Donald Trump’s number two on X/Twitter after claiming he had received “death threats” following a series of posts about the state of the UK.
Skinner said on social media that it’s “not far-right” to be “flying your flag and loving your country” and complained “it ain’t safe out there anymore” in London, claiming the city is “hostile” and “tense”.
The Independent’s Rachel McGrath wrote that Skinner’s casting “doesn’t feel right” and questioned the BBC’s decision to “intentionally sign someone so divisive”.
She wrote: “Strictly is now waltzing into another series with a controversy on its hands. And fans might be left wondering, whatever happened to the wholesome Saturday night show that was all about the dancing?”
You can read a full list of the 2025 Strictly Come Dancing contestants here.
