Dianne Buswell has joked she's 'old news' as she shared her thoughts on Strictly Come Dancing's new professional dancers and one of the rumoured celebrities set to take to the dance floor this year.
The professional dancer has been super busy of late as she continued to ride hight from winning the BBC One dance show last year with comedian Chris McCausland, before picking up a special television BAFTA for one of their performances earlier this year.
Fans of the dance contest's 2024 winner will be aware that she recently wrapped up touring the country alongside her co-star and friend, Vito Coppola, with it coming to an end just a day before rehearsals for Strictly 2025 got underway.
The pair were confirmed to be returning to the programme in the pro dancer line-up back in April. They'll be joined by Amy Dowden, Nadiya Bychkova, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Gorka Marquez, and Luba Mushtuk.
Jowita Przystal, Johannes Radebe, Michelle Tsiakkas, Aljaž Škorjanec, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley and Nikita Kuzmin will also take to the ballroom once more.
But that wasn't actually the complete line-up as when the initial announcement was made, it was also revealed that two brand new professional dancers will be making their debut.
The newcomers have since been revealed as So You Think You Can Dance champion Alexis Warr and Australia’s Dancing With The Stars' Julian Caillon and they were seen joining the pros in preparation for Strictly's next run, with the group numbers set to be pre-recorded before the main series gets underway.
But much of the talk is around the celebrity line-up, which is yet to be officially confirmed, but has been subject of plenty of rumours in recent weeks.
The current rumoured line-up for Strictly 2025 includes Neighbours actor Stefan Dennis, reality star Vicky Pattison, presenter Stacey Solomon and former Coronation Street star Helen Flanagan.
And it's Stefan, who is famed for playing Paul Robinson since the debut of the Australian soap in 1985, is who fellow Aussie, and current reigning Strictly champ, Dianne is excited about.
During the latest episode of her podcast, Winning Isn't Everything, which she co-hosts with her 2024 dance partner Chris McCausland, the comedian quizzed her the celebrities set to take to the dance floor this year.
"I have no idea, Chris!" she responded, before continuing: "I heard that there's going be someone from Neighbours, which would be sick! I would love to dance with an Aussie!"
Chris commented: "I loved Neighbours when I was younger." Dianne continued: "That's what I've heard. Someone told me this. Was it you, actually? No, you didn't tell me.
"Someone told me, 'Oh, word on the street is there's a guy from Neighbours that's gonna be in it'. And I was like, 'Oh, that would be sick! That would be so cool!'".
Dianne confirmed that it was Paul, aka actor Stefan, who she'd heard could be taking to the ballroom this year, as she asked: "Is he a big deal? Was he popular?" as Chris responded with some history about the character's time on the show, while Dianne admitted to being "more of a Home and Away girl".
Before Dianne gave the actor a quick Google and brutally admitted: "He'd be quite old now, wouldn't he?" Chris replied: "You'd imagine so..." Eventally discovering he's 62, Dianne added: "He's getting on, Chris. He's 62. He ain't doing a good jive, is he?" which sent them both into laughter.
Of her new pros, Dianne quipped: "Guess what? One of them is an Aussie. I know, I'm old news now." Chris joked: "Is it a male Aussie or are they literally bringing in your replacement while you're still there?" Dianne replied: "Literally, the girl is a little bit red head.
"It's an Aussie boy and the girl is American, her name is Alexis. Great dancer, she's got a fab personality. The boy, I know very well... Julian, who is Austrlian, who I've worked with in the past before. He's the Aussie."
