BBC Strictly Come Dancing's JB Gill breaks silence on 'heartbreaking' Amy Dowden exit

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

JB Gill has said it's 'heartbreaking' as he broke his silence on the news he'll now be competing in Strictly Come Dancing with Lauren Oakley.

The JLS star was paired with Amy Dowden for the 2024 run of the BBC One dance contest. The pair were going from strength to strength in the competition when Amy suddenly "fell ill".

It was previously revealed that the dancer began to feel unwell after her performance with the singer and presenter and was rushed to hospital during the show's Halloween special at the end of last month.

It forced her to miss the week six results show followed by a week of rehearsals. Amy, therefore, didn't perform during the latest live show on Saturday night (November 2), and Lauren Oakley, who does not have a celebrity pairing on this year's series of the BBC One dance competition, instead stepped. READ MORE: BBC Strictly Come Dancing star puts 'huge spanner' in competition after transformation hailed She rehearsed with JB before joining him to perform the live couple's choice routine to a Bruno Mars medley during Strictly's first-ever 'Icons Week', which saw the pair bag JB's first 10s of the series, resulting in a near-perfect score of 39 out of a possible 40 points.