Dianne Buswell has spoken about what she's heard' about the next Strictly Come Dancing line-up as the exctiement for the upcoming series gathers pace.
With August underway, the hit BBC One dance show is now just weeks away from a sparkling return to TV screens, with the professional dancers now in rehearsals.
The BBC confirmed the professional line-up for the upcoming run of the hit dance show in April. Amy Dowden, Dianne Buswell, Nadiya Bychkova, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Gorka Marquez, and Luba Mushtuk will all take to the floor once more.
They will be joined by Jowita Przystal, Johannes Radebe, Michelle Tsiakkas, Aljaž Škorjanec, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley, Nikita Kuzmin and Vito Coppola.
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 continuining: "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".
Last month, Shirley Ballas was quizzed on the show's upcoming return, after it was revealed she'll once again be on the judging panel alongside Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke.
Appearing on This Morning, Shirley said: "What I can tell you is, we have two fabulous professionals coming and joining the show. They are amazing really. We’ve got some little changes there that you’re going to be really surprised about, every year they make those few little changes and it’s really, really, really amazing."
She added: "We’ve got a cast - I know I say it every year - but we’ve got a cast of all casts, it’s really going to be absolutely off the charts."
