Katrina Rees
Actress and radio presenter Gemma Atkinson is the latest celebrity to be announced for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.
The news was revealed by Naga Munchetty, who competed on last year’s show, during this morning’s BBC Breakfast.
Speaking about swapping soaps for Strictly, Gemma said: “I am honoured to be asked and so thrilled to be joining Strictly Come Dancing 2017! I’m beyond excited and incredibly nervous but I am looking forward to learning a new skill in ballroom and latin dancing and taking on this new challenge.”
Bringing the drama to the #Strictly 2017 ballroom is actress @MissGAtkinson! ? ? ? https://t.co/AbiEHGPRj3 pic.twitter.com/ojaZRiVaIl
— BBC Strictly ? (@bbcstrictly) August 10, 2017
Gemma most recently played Carly Hope in ITV’s Emmerdale, however, she has been a TV regular since 2001. She rose to fame as Lisa Hunter in Hollyoaks in the early noughties and has since gone on to star in numerous shows including The Bill, Casualty and Waterloo Road. Earlier this year she left Emmerdale and joined the Key 103 breakfast team in Manchester.
Four of this year’s contestants have now been revealed: Gemma, The Saturdays’ Mollie King, Eastenders’ Davood Ghadami and This Morning’s Ruth Langsford. With the line up hotting up, we can’t wait to see who else will be donning the sparkly costumes later this year.
