Friday, November 22, 2024

Billy Monger is the sixth celebrity contestant confirmed for Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special 2024

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The Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special is back! As the Ballroom is once again transformed into a magical winter wonderland, the final celebrity behind the all-star advent calendar doors this year has been revealed.

On Strictly: It Takes Two on BBC Two and iPlayer, Billy Monger was announced as the final celebrity included in 2024’s Christmas line up, he will be paired with Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Nadiya Bychkova.

Expect festive cheer, jingle bells, mistletoe madness, bedazzling baubles and six celebrities all sleighing their way to Elstree in a bid to be crowned the Strictly Christmas Champion 2024.

Billy Monger is a racing driver and TV presenter.

Billy has scored podiums in British Formula 3 and followed in Lewis Hamilton’s footsteps by winning the Pau Grand Prix in European Formula 3.

He was critically injured in a high-speed collision while racing in Formula 4 which left him with both legs amputated. Despite this, Billy refused to give up on his racing career, lobbying to allow both disabled and non-disabled drivers to race alongside each other.

Billy won the BBC Sports Personality Helen Rollason Award and had a BAFTA-nominated BBC documentary made about his story. Billy is also a presenter and pundit on Channel 4’s coverage of Formula One and the Paralympics. He recently beat the world record for a double amputee in the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii – the toughest endurance event in the world – a BBC documentary on this is being made.

Billy Monger said: “I’ve spent the last 12 months training 20 hours a week for an Ironman world record attempt, but the thought of donning sequins in front of Craig Revel Horwood fills me with a fear I’ve never experienced before. This is about as far from my comfort zone as it can get! My family are big Strictly fans, so I’m doing it for them and to raise awareness for what I’m doing for Comic Relief next year. I’m just hoping my leg doesn’t fall off mid-dance!”

In the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, produced by BBC Studios, each of the six couples will perform a festive fuelled routine in the hope of impressing the judges, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Head Judge Shirley Ballas, and the voting studio audience. But who will emerge the Christmas star of the evening, and lift the sought after Christmas trophy?

The Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day

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