Gladiators favourite and Olympic sprinter Harry Aikines Aryeetey has been unveiled as the first celebrity contestant for the 2025 series of Strictly Come Dancing.
The 36 year old, known as Nitro on the hit BBC reboot of Gladiators, revealed the news during a live appearance on Newsround on Monday.
Disguised as “world famous choreographer Nicky Trott” in a segment about the benefits of daily dancing, he removed his disguise to announce he would be joining the new series.
“I’m so excited to be part of the Strictly family this series and I’m ready to give it all I’ve got,” Aikines Aryeetey said.
“I’ll be bringing tons of energy to light up the dance floor – let’s hope I’m as quick picking up the routines as I am on the track.”
Aikines Aryeetey enjoyed a glittering athletics career before swapping the track for TV.
A former Team GB sprinter, he was the first athlete to win both 100m and 200m gold at the World Youth Championships, was crowned BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2005, and went on to compete at two Olympic Games.
He is also a three time European champion and two time Commonwealth champion.
In 2023, he joined Gladiators as Nitro and made his Strictly debut in last year’s Christmas Special, dancing with Nancy Xu. “It was so nice I just had to do it twice,” he joked.
The first live Strictly Come Dancing episode will air on BBC One and iPlayer in September, running through to December.
The next three celebrity contestants will be revealed on The One Show on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, two of Australia’s most famous soap stars – Delta Goodrem and Natalie Imbruglia – are in talks to join the line up.
If confirmed, they could be joined by Neighbours legend Stefan Dennis, in what insiders are calling a potential “Ramsay Street takeover” of the dance floor.
A TV source told The Sun: “Delta and Natalie would bring glamour and star power. If all three signed up, it would be quite a coup for the show.”
Goodrem played Nina Tucker on Neighbours from 2002 to 2004, leaving temporarily after being diagnosed with non Hodgkin lymphoma.
She went on to enjoy a global hit with Born to Try, was previously engaged to Westlife’s Brian McFadden, and married musician Matthew Copley just two months ago.
Imbruglia joined Neighbours as Beth Brennan in 1992 at the age of 16, before leaving to launch her music career and releasing worldwide hit Torn in 1997.
The mum-of-one is now a British citizen, married Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns in 2003, and divorced five years later.
Other stars rumoured to be in the running include Love Island winner Dani Dyer, EastEnders actor Balvinder Sopal, Geordie Shore’s Vicky Pattison and former England rugby captain Chris Robshaw.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on speculation.”
Show bosses have however confirmed two new professional dancers for the upcoming series – Alexis Warr, winner of US series So You Think You Can Dance in 2022, and Australian Julian Caillon, who has appeared in three seasons of Dancing With The Stars Australia.
