Strictly Come Dancing: Alex Kingston and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink confirmed as contestants on this year’s BBC ballroom dancing competition
The next two Strictly Come Dancing contestants have been revealed as actress Alex Kingston and former footballer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Following the first announcement on The One Show this evening (August 11) that TV personality Dani Dyer would be appearing on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, two more celebrities have now confirmed they will also be contestants on the BBC ballroom dancing show. Actress Alex Kingston and former footballer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink have revealed they too will be taking to the dancefloor.
Alex, who is perhaps best known as Dr Elizabeth Corday on US drama ER, has said she is now “terrified” at the thought of taking part, saying: “I'm excited. I was super excited and now I actually am terrified.”
Speaking to The One Show hosts Roman Kemp and Alex Scott via video link from her holiday, she explained what led her onto the Strictly dancefloor. She said: “In 2019 I did a play with Sarah Hadland and we admitted to one another that we actually desperately wanted to be in Strictly.”
Hadland appeared in the twenty-second series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering with Vito Coppola where the pair reached the final, finishing as runners-up behind Chris McCausland and his partner Dianne Buswell. Alex continued: “When I then saw Sarah performing last year, I just thought oh my god, you know, she actually, she’s done it, she's done it and not only has she done it, she you know, she went all the way.
“And I reached out and just asked her what her experience of having been part of the show was and she was really honest with me about how hard it is, how overwhelming it can be but also how it absolutely changed her life and she would do it again in a heartbeat. And so she was really clear and it just gave me the chance to make the decision for myself as to whether I wanted to go for it and I just thought, my God you know I'm in my sixties, just go for it, what have you got to lose.”
Next to be revealed was Dutch professional football manager and former player, Jimmy. Explaining how he ended up agreeing to take part, the 53-year-old said: “I'm a father of only girls and Strictly is a part of our home life and yeah, I've got into it, I like the show, and, let's have a go.”
Saying he didn’t know what to expect but that he did have “a little bit of rhythm”, the former Chelsea star admitted that a slower dance like the waltz would probably be his favourite.
He added: “It's totally out of my comfort zone. Totally. Playing football in front of 60,000 or 70,000 people it's easy, you know that. But dancing in front of people and dancing with a partner, not your partner, a partner, who knows it 10 times, a 100 times better than you is, yeah, it's crazy.”
Joining Dani, Alex and Jimmy on this year’s Strictly is Gladiators Nitro - AKA Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who was revealed to be the first contestant on Newsround this morning.
Roman confirmed the new series of Strictly Come Dancing will air in September on BBC One and iplayer.