I’ll be honest, I was halfway through my third cup of tea yesterday when the news pinged up on my phone and I actually grinned like an idiot. Jaime Winstone is joining Strictly Come Dancing 2026, making her the eighth celebrity confirmed for what’s shaping up to be another gloriously daft run of sequins, sweat and Saturday-night escapism.
The announcement landed on 23 July via the official @bbcstrictly channels on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. Nothing flashy, just the quiet satisfaction of another name ticked off the list. She now lines up alongside Lacey Turner, Dani Dyer, Delta Goodrem, Chris Appleton, Cach Mercer, Will Best and Dame Sarah Storey. The whole glittering circus returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer in September, and I for one am already mentally clearing my calendar.
I remember the first time I watched Strictly as a kid, sprawled on the living-room carpet with my mum shouting encouragement at the screen as if the celebrities could hear her. There was something comforting about it then, the same way there is now: people from wildly different worlds agreeing to put themselves through the same discipline, the same long hours, the same terrifying prospect of being judged in a spangly costume. It’s not revolutionary television. It’s better than that. It’s reliably, unapologetically British in the best possible sense.
I am so excited to announce that I will be joining the Strictly Come Dancing cast this year. I am no stranger to a dance floor, but the ballroom is a whole new world for me. I love a challenge though, so can’t wait to enter my showgirl era and get super sparkly!! Let’s get physical – see you on the dance floor!
That’s Jaime herself, speaking with the sort of cheerful energy that makes you root for her already. She sounds exactly like someone who knows the ballroom will be harder than any club night she’s ever danced through, yet she’s diving in anyway. There’s a lovely humility in admitting the difference between a dance floor and the Strictly ballroom. It’s the same humility that has always made the show work: famous faces willing to look a bit daft in pursuit of something better.
In an age when so much entertainment feels designed to divide us, there’s still something quietly radical about a programme that pulls families onto the sofa together, week after week. No lectures, no agenda, just music, movement and the gentle art of not falling over in a foxtrot. Jaime Winstone stepping into her “showgirl era” feels like the perfect addition to that tradition.
I suspect she’ll surprise a few people. And even if she doesn’t, the rest of us will still be there on Saturday nights, cups of tea in hand, cheering on the glitter and the grit in equal measure. Some institutions are worth keeping exactly as daft and delightful as they’ve always been.
