Strictly 2025 : Post Series Debrief And Christmas Special

[EineReiseDurchDieZeit]

In case anyone wants to keep chatting

Bloody hell fleurs hair is quite something!

Gorka is leaving Strictly - gutted! I half expected it given how he stepped back last year, but I’d still hoped he’d be around in some way!

Don't think it was a surprise.

Gorka to me is the Caberet dance he did with Helen .
I can still remember it .

Agreed - no surprise but gutted! Me too re Cabaret! That was amazing!

Tess and Vernon have just announced they’re splitting. I wonder if this was a reason for her leaving Strictly?

Aw, I didn't expect that. 😕

Sad news for them, but good day to announce it with all the election news.

Oh, poor Tess.

I think it was known they’d had issues. Feel bad for Tess but perhaps she wanted a completely fresh chapter?

Don’t think this has been posted yet

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/articles/2026/strictly-come-dancing-2026

Pro dancers for this year have been confirmed, along with the return of the judges.

I wonder if this was a reason she decided to leave Strictly. It was the right time for Claudia with the traitors but I always wondered why Tess was going. This would explain it.

Not getting why her splitting from her husband would be reason to leave her job? I think they both went due to the changes & scandals attached to Srictly & their own brand management. Bow out now before it’s too late. IMO anyway.

Maybe she wants to step away from the limelight for a bit (she can clearly afford to). We don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors

Sometimes I think a person just wants to go :

RIGHT! FUCK EVERYTHING AND BURN IT DOWN.

and completely start anew

As @fridayyay4said there’s no accounting for what goes on behind closed doors

Well we can only speculate. I don’t think we’d think marital issues might be a factor in a male celebrity stepping down from their job. I thought it was long known they’d had issues. Presumably something’s broken the camel’s back. Again speculation!

Male celebrities have stepped away due to things in their personal life. Ant (from Ant and Dec) took a break from presenting for a while due to personal issues.

A quick Google says the following men disappeared for a while after marital splits:

• Chris Martin: Following his "conscious uncoupling" from Gwyneth Paltrow in 2014, the Coldplay frontman took time away to "reassemble" himself for the sake of his children.
• Ben Affleck: Following his 2015 split from Jennifer Garner, Affleck stepped back from certain commitments and focused on personal recovery and family.
• Gavin Rossdale: After his 2015 divorce from Gwen Stefani, Rossdale moved away from the intense media scrutiny and focused on personal projects, noting the need for the public attention to stop.
• Channing Tatum: After splitting from Jenna Dewan in 2018, Tatum significantly scaled back on acting projects for a couple of years to focus on his life post-marriage.
• Brian Austin Green: Following his 2020 separation from Megan Fox, Green took a break from acting to process the end of the 10-year marriage and focus on his children.
• Kevin Costner: Following his high-profile divorce from Christine Baumgartner, which concluded in 2024, Costner discussed stepping back to focus on his personal life and family.

About time she LTB he's a dick!

Good for Tess finally able to free herself and move on.

At the time the papers were saying Claudia was leaving due to other committments such as The Traitors and they had always agreed if one left the other would too

Honestly when things are rough, you need a bit of continuity to tide you over. Not a time to take risks.
When you have managed to detangle yourself from a stressful home life, it’s a great chance to review and reset. I’d think, along with claud, it was a ‘seize the moment’ wake up call.

I think T&V are at different points in their lives.

Her long running, successful role has just ended, whilst he has secured a key position at R2.

i can see why she may not want to hang around whilst he works, but also why he doesn’t want to leave now.

Yes I would think the pact to leave together evolved as they had done it so long together. tess staying could have looked a bit desperate on her part and she was probably ready for a change. But leaving Strictly and starting a new chapter could have been the trigger to re evaluate everything in her life including her marriage.

It must have been hard to build back from Vernon’s sexting - maybe they never got fully back on track. and now she wants to apparently relax and travel and he still wants to work hard in the radio and live music field so their current goals are incompatible.

I’ve never had Vernon down as a hard worker as he never seems to last more than a couple of years in a job.

Good luck to Tess - hope she has a fabulous life!

Emma Willis has been confirmed. A good choice, plenty of experience.

That's good.
I like Emma and she is not annoying.
Looks like she will be Zoe Ball taking over the upstairs part .