Amy Dowden forced to withdraw from Strictly Come Dancing 2024

Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden has been forced to withdraw from the 2024 series.

It comes after the much-loved Welsh star, 34, required medical attention following the Halloween episode, which saw her rushed to hospital.

Amy was then replaced by Lauren Oakley, 33, for Icons Week, who danced with her celebrity partner JB Gill, 37, for their pre-planned couple’s choice routine.

JB and Lauren achieved an almost-perfect score of 39 from the judges, with a tearful Amy cheering them on from the sidelines, having assisted in choreographing the Bruno Mars street-style number.

Unfortunately, the dancer, who joined Strictly in 2017, will not return as JB’s partner due to an injury.

Issuing an update tonight, a Strictly spokesperson said: ‘Sadly, Amy Dowden MBE will not be partaking in the rest of the competition this year.

‘Whilst Amy focuses on her recovery following a foot injury, fellow professional dancer, Lauren Oakley, will step in as JB’s dance partner.

‘The health and wellbeing of everyone involved in Strictly are always the utmost priority.’

They added: ‘The whole Strictly family sends Amy love and well wishes.’

Following the announcement, Amy took to Instagram with a crushing statement, writing: ‘My heart is breaking right now. The past few months I finally felt like me again. Cancer was no longer the first thing I thought of when I woke up. It was choreography, music choices, which dances in which order, what we needed to work on. I felt free again.

‘My goal since hearing those words, “You have cancer” was to get back on the Strictly dancefloor. It’s been such a challenge to get back, one I devoted 2024 to which, with my incredible team, we got there. Something I wanted to do for myself and loved ones.’

Amy went on to say ‘there was no feeling like it, dancing again in the ballroom with [her] Strictly family.’

She praised JB as a ‘talented, kind, gentle soul’ and spoke fondly of their ‘blossoming friendship’, thanking him for being ‘the perfect partner’.

On her premature exit, she wrote: ‘I’m so sad, so upset, and asking, “Why me, why now that our journey has been cut short?”‘

Amy assured fans that she will be better and back to dancing ‘soon’ after her injury heals, telling JB directly: ‘I’m sure at some point we will dance again.’

‘To all the fans, to my loved ones, my Strictly family, thank you,’ she concluded, before wishing JB and Lauren luck and vowing to be their ‘biggest cheerleader’.

Amy’s heartache is completely understandable, having previously spoken about her desire to make Strictly history by lifting the trophy with JB.

She said on BBC Radio Wales ahead of the series launch: ‘After having a mastectomy, chemotherapy, fertility treatment, the lot, I am now finally looking ahead to 2024 and I’ve just got a good feeling it’s going to be my year and hopefully, I’m going to get that Glitterball and I’m going to bring it back to Wales because a Welsh professional dancer’s never won the show.

‘That might be because I’m the only ever Welsh professional dancer to be on the show.

‘But, yeah, that’s my aim for 2024, to get fit and healthy and to get myself back on that Strictly dancefloor.’

Amy was last on screens on Saturday night where she declared herself, JB, and Lauren the ‘dream team’.

The trio shared an emotional group hug after JB and Lauren smashed their performance, sending them to the top of the leaderboard.

‘I am so grateful to you, Lauren,’ Amy said. ‘Thank you, Lauren, thank you, J, you two are just amazing. I just wish I was there with you,’ Amy said.

Lauren, who became a Strictly pro in 2022, did not have a celeb partner this year.

Last series, she was paired with Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy and they finished in eighth place.

Earlier in the week, Amy appeared on spin-off show It Takes Two with to address her recent health scare.

‘I am feeling so much better, and I’d like to thank everyone for the love and support I’ve received,’ she said while smiling.

Viewers also said they were relieved to see her looking well, saying what a ‘lovely surprise’ it was to have her back.

After Amy first took ill, a Strictly spokesperson shared: ‘Amy Dowden MBE is doing much better and the Strictly family send her love and wish her well.

‘She is delighted that fellow professional dancer, Lauren Oakley, is able to step in for rehearsals and to perform in Saturday’s show for JB Gill’s couple’s choice dance.

‘We are all hopeful that Amy will be back to dance with JB next week.’

A spokesperson for the dancer also said the ambulance ‘was called as a precaution’.

‘She is feeling much better and would like to thank the Strictly family for their love and concern. We request Amy’s privacy in matters of health is kindly respected,’ they added.

Amy, who joined the Strictly family in 2017, was forced to sit out of last year’s series after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

She underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy, before being told ahead of her Strictly comeback that there was no evidence of disease in her body.

Sharing the news from doctors on Instagram earlier in the year, she said they were ‘words [she] dreamed of’ and her ‘biggest accomplishment yet’.

Amy, who also has Crohn’s disease, informed her followers that she won’t get the official ‘all clear’ for five years, and she will require monthly injections plus regular check-ups.