The announcement was made on Strictly It Takes Two on Monday evening and comes after the dancer was also forced to quit last year’s competition when she fractured her foot after having finished chemotherapy for breast cancer.
In a statement on Instagram, Dowden said her “heart is breaking” that her journey on this year’s Strictly had been “cut short” by a foot injury.
She said: “I’m so sad, so upset and asking why me, why now that our journey has been cut short.
“My heart right now is breaking having to pull out of the competition due to a foot injury and I know only too well ‘this too shall pass’ and I’ll be soon better and back dancing. Something I’ve had to get used to in my life. I’m sure at some point we will dance again JB.”
Speaking about getting back to the competition after her cancer treatment, she said: “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 dance floor. It’s been such a challenge to get back, one I devoted 2024 to …Something I wanted to do for myself and loved ones. There was no feeling like it dancing again in the ballroom with my Strictly family. Then I was partnered with the talented, kind, gentle soul JB.”
She described the pair’s training sessions as “chilled, hard-working and full of big smiles”, adding that the duo shared “a blossoming friendship”.
Addressing her dance partner, she said: “JB I know you and Lauren will continue to ace that dance floor. I’ll forever be your biggest cheerleader.”