Amy Dowden to Miss Upcoming Strictly Come Dancing Show

Professional dancer Amy Dowden of Strictly Come Dancing is set to miss the upcoming Saturday broadcast, having become unwell during filming over the weekend. Fellow professional dancer Lauren Oakley will step in, forming a partnership with Dowden’s celebrity partner, JB Gill. A spokesperson for Strictly Come Dancing stated: “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.” It was previously communicated that Oakley would train with Gill, a former member of the boyband JLS, on Monday. However, the BBC has since confirmed that the duo will remain partnered for the remainder of the week, encompassing their televised performance on Saturday evening and the results show scheduled for broadcast on Sunday. Dowden experienced a collapse backstage during the main show on Saturday night. An ambulance was summoned to Elstree Studios in Borehamwood on Saturday after Dowden started feeling unwell. She had rejoined the Strictly line-up this year, having been absent from the 2023 series following a diagnosis of breast cancer. A representative for the dancer stated that the ambulance “was called as a precaution” and that she was currently “feeling much better”. Oakley, who does not have a celebrity partner for the current year, became part of the BBC program in 2022. Last year, Oakley was partnered with Krishnan Guru-Murthy, a Channel 4 News presenter. That pair concluded their run in eighth place. Gill and Dowden achieved a score of 32 on Saturday night, following their performance of a foxtrot to the song “Dancing In The Moonlight” by Toploader. Dowden was absent from Sunday evening’s results show, having been transported to hospital prior to its filming. The dancer initially received a diagnosis of stage three breast cancer at the age of 32 in May 2023, after discovering a lump in her breast the day before her honeymoon. The now-34-year-old was subsequently diagnosed with “another type of cancer” later in the same year and commenced chemotherapy treatment. She returned to the hospital in August 2024 for additional tests, due to doctors’ concerns regarding abnormalities in her breast following a check-up. She was subsequently given the all-clear. Dowden also lives with Crohn’s disease, a lifelong condition characterized by inflammation of parts of the digestive system, and has previously discussed its impact on her health. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external sites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is available.