Karen Hauer has told how she was left feeling the 'nerves' ahead of her Strictly Come Dancing return as she gave an update on her first week back in rehearsals.
The professional dancer, who is the longest-serving female pro on the show, is set to return to the ballroom the autumn as the BBC One dance contest kicks off its 2025 run.
The BBC confirmed the line-up of professional dancers set to take to the dance floor this year back in April. As well as Karen, Aljaz Skorjanec, Amy Dowden, Nadiya Bychkova, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Gorka Marquez and Luba Mushtuk will all take to the floor once more.
They will also be joined by Jowita Przystal, Johannes Radebe, Dianne Buswell, Nancy Xu, Kai Widdrington, Michelle Tsiakkas, Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley, Nikita Kuzmin and Vito Coppola.
It was also confirmed that two new professional dancers will be joining the show and 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.
The full line-up of pros were then seen heading into their first day of rehearsals, where they spet a full week at their their training base before taking the weekend off.
It was then ahead of the start of week two, with many of the show's stars in good spirits as they returned to rehearsals for the group numbers which are set to be pre-recorded at the end of this month, that Karen spoke about how she was feeling.
Writing on her Substack page, she said: "This week felt… long. Not in a bad way, just in a 'what day is it again?' kind of way."
It was later she candidly shared: "Going in on Monday, I had a whole mix of nerves. My brain was like, 'You’ve done this a hundred times Karen,' and my body was like, 'Cool, but we still might panic.'
"And I did a little. But instead of spiralling, I parked up early, blasted some music in the car, and gave myself time to just… breathe." She added: "Walking into the studio, it hit me how much I’d missed it.
"The faces, the familiar space, the unspoken buzz before the music starts. I eased in slowly - one hello at a time and before I knew it, the space felt like home again," before she eloquently continued to share her thoughts.
Karen previously said about her Strictly return on Instagram: "14th series. Feels Good to be Back. Grateful @bbcstrictly #dancer #longestservingpro #14."
