Strictly fans fume and vow to 'stop watching' as beloved pro is axed from main show line-up

Strictly Come Dancing fans have shared their anger over a beloved pro dancer not competing in this year’s series.

The glitzy BBC One show made its return to screens on Saturday (September 14) - kicking off its 20th series. Hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman were back to welcome another batch of 15 celebs to the dance floor for its pre-recorded launch show.

The likes of JB Gill, Tasha Ghouri and Nick Knowles have all signed up to show off their best moves in a bid to bag a spot in the final and take home the Glitterball trophy. Judges Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke are on hand too like usual, to share their initial thoughts on the pairings.

However, a few of the pro dancers have been left without a celebrity partner this year - including Carlos Gu. And it’s fair to say fans are not too happy about it.

Sharing their thoughts online, one person fumed on X: “Kai, Lauren & Carlos have all proven themselves to be great pros and most importantly, get on well with their celebrities. WHY are they the ones chosen to be benched? Making the series look even worse.”

Someone else added: “They dropped Carlos for goodness sake. Outrageous! I won't be watching.” A third wrote: “It’s an absolute liberty that Carlos and Kai haven’t got a partner this year. Sorry I’m fuming.”

The Celebrity and dancer pairings were revealed during Saturday’s (September 14) launch show. The full pairings are: Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell, Wynne Evans and Katya Jones, Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu and Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas.

As well as those, Pete Wicks and Jowita Przysta and Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe are taking to the floor this year.

The rest of the line-up includes Sam Quek MBE and Nikita Kuzmin, JB Gill and Amy Dowden MBE, Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones, Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola, Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec, Dr Punam Krishan and Gorka Marquez, Paul Merson and Karen Hauer, Tom Dean MBE and Nadiya Bychkova and Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtuk

Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday, September 21 on BBC One