Former Strictly Come Dancing star Karen Hauer has spoken about her exit from the long-running BBC series, with the professional dancer sharing that it is often a "pressurised" environment when the celebrities become involved.
It was announced in March that Hauer had departed the series after a 14-year stint, which made her the longest-serving professional at the time. Her exit came amid a major line-up change, with Nadia Bychkova and Luba Mushtuk also leaving.
During an appearance on Lorraine on Friday (5 June), Hauer reflected on her Strictly journey, sharing: "Sometimes these decisions kind of take time. I loved being on Strictly - 14 years of the best experiences.
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"The warmth, and the things that I learned and the people that I met, and the experience that I got. I grew up a lot during Strictly. I learned so much about teaching someone and being with someone for so many hours, and teaching them confidence.
"It's very pressurised. It's one of these things, when you're doing Strictly, especially a celebrity that's never danced before, you go in there and you're like 'this is what I have to do'. And you have to teach them how to be okay with how to move their body."
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With Michelle Tsiakkas and Gorka Márquez also departing, it was very much all-change in the professionals line-up, while presenting duo Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have been replaced by Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe.
Widdicombe previously danced with Hauer as part of the 2024 Christmas special, and the professional had little doubt that her former dance partner would do a fine job of presenting the series.
"He's awesome. He's going to be absolutely brilliant because he's been in the trenches," said Hauer. "He knows how the person's going to feel. And what a line-up. I'm really excited to watch the show."
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It was also recently announced that spin-off series It Takes Two would be getting a shake-up, with Janette Manrara confirming last week that she wouldn't be hosting the series upon its return.
"I'll still be involved in other ways. But that just means that I’m free to pursue and do many other projects that I’ve always wanted to do and never really thought about doing," she added.
Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer in September.
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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.
