Katrina Rees
Mollie King has been confirmed as the first celebrity contestant to take part in Strictly Come Dancing 2017.
The singer joined Nick Grimshaw on his Radio 1 breakfast show this morning to announce the news. Speaking about taking part, Mollie said: “I’m a huge fan of Strictly Come Dancing so I can’t actually believe I’m lucky enough to be taking part in it this year! I’m literally so excited to learn latin and ballroom dancing, and of course I can’t wait to get into the sequins too! It’s going to be a lot of hard work but I’m ready for the challenge.”
Welcome @MollieKing our first #Strictly celebrity of 2017! ? pic.twitter.com/c9Gu1ul1v6
— BBC Strictly ? (@bbcstrictly) August 7, 2017
Mollie is best known for being one fifth of girlband The Saturdays. The band have sold over five million singles worldwide, with 13 top 10 singles and five top 10 albums to their name. Mollie will be following in the footsteps of bandmate Frankie Bridge, who came runner up in the 12th series in 2014.
She revealed to Nick Grimshaw that only her parents and Frankie previously knew she was taking part. “I told Frankie (Bridge) and when I called her she was driving and she was so excited she had to pull in! The other girls don’t know… well they do now.”
Strictly Come Dancing will return for its 15th series in the autumn. This year will see a bit of a shake up to the judging panel. Shirley Ballas, former British Open To The World Latin American champion and ballroom champion, will take over from Len Goodman as head judge, after he stepped down last series. She will be joined by returning judges Craig Revel Horwood, Bruno Tonioli and Darcey Bussell.
Further line up announcements are expected in due course, with the second being announced tomorrow.
