Strictly Come Dancing fans are abuzz with speculation that Dianne Buswell might leave the BBC show after the current series.
The 35-year-old professional dancer, who is currently paired with Chris McCausland, has been part of the Strictly family since 2017. Reports suggest that the pair are strong contenders for the Glitterball trophy, prompting fans to speculate that a win could mark Dianne’s final bow on the show.
Social media has seen fans sharing their thoughts, with one commenting: “I would say Dianne might leave this year, especially if she wins.”
Another echoed the sentiment, saying: “Now that you’ve said it, it does seem likely that this could be Dianne’s last hurrah. Not only because of her massively popular partnership with Chris but also because she’s been getting a lot of prominent roles in the pro numbers.”
Adding fuel to the fire regarding Dianne’s potential departure is her upcoming tour with fellow professional dancer Vito Coppola. Announcing the tour, Dianne excitedly told her followers: “We are so, so excited to finally introduce you all to our brand new show DIANNE and VITO ‘Red Hot and Ready’ presented by Burn the Floor. We’ve been working on this project for such a long time, and we cannot wait to share this special show with the whole of the UK in 2025,” reports the Mirror.
However, some fans were left disappointed as they noted that the 27-date tour does not include stops in Scotland or Ireland. One fan commented: “So exciting! ! However it can’t really be considered a uk tour without a Scotland date.”
Earlier this year, Dianne opened up about her struggles with an eating disorder that left her fearing she would never dance again.
During an appearance on This Morning in March, she told hosts Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle that her obsessive thoughts about food and calories had taken over her life. She explained: “You wake up in the morning, and the first thing you think of is, what am I going to eat? How many calories are going to be in that? How much do I need to exercise to burn off those calories?
Dianne added: “It literally is like a planned thing in your mind that doesn’t go away. And that’s when you start to go, ‘Oh, this is a problem because I’m not thinking of anything else.”
She attributed the development of her eating disorder in part to the pressure she felt as a young dancer to maintain a low weight.
She revealed: “I think it comes from when I was quite a young girl. And obviously, growing up in the dance world, you’re taught to look a certain way, and you see all these other beautiful girls dancing, and you kind of want to look like that and want to be winning like they are. They look a certain way, so I feel like I should look that way. So I think it was something from a really young age.”
Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday on BBC One.