Neil Jones Reacts To Not Getting A Celebrity Partner On Strictly Come Dancing

The revamped Strictly Come Dancing returned to our screens over the weekend – with Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe making their hosting debut and viewers finding out which of the professionals each of the new celebrities had been paired up with ahead of the first live show this coming weekend.

However, with 19 pros currently in the show’s resident troupe and only 15 famous contestants on this year’s line-up, that meant a few dancers were left on the bench.

And, folks… it was bad news for Neil Jones once again.

Over the years, it’s become something of a running joke among Strictly fans that Neil is often left without a celebrity partner – and fortunately, it’s one that the man himself sees the funny side of.

In fact, since joining the show a decade ago, he’s only danced with three celebs, which he alluded to in an Instagram post shared after Saturday’s pre-recorded launch show aired.

“If I get the pen in the bin, I will get a celeb partner,” he wrote, alongside a clip of himself trying to chuck a marker bin into an oversized dustbin, only for an unidentified hand to intervene.

Neil also joked: “You know I love being part of [Strictly] and honestly after adding two Guinness World Records last year to my 45 titles around the world, I feel like it would be greedy to win the Glitter Ball as well so I wanted to give the others a chance.”

Joining Neil on the bench this year are Aleksandra Isaeva, Cristian Priori and Lethabo Monametsi, all of whom are new additions to Strictly in 2026.

Some of the show’s newbies do have partners this series, with Maddie Ingoldsby dancing with Love Island winner Cach Mercer and Mark Karmalita partnered with Olympian Tabby Stoecker.

Meanwhile, reigning champion Carlos Gu will dance with actor Jaime Winstone in this year’s series, while House Of The Dragon star Bethany Antonia is part of a same-sex partnership, dancing with Nancy Xu.

The full list of celebrities and their professional partners is as follows:

• Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu
• Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby
• Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden
• Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin
• Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington
• Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley
• Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu
• John Nellis and Katya Jones
• Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola
• Lawrence Robb and Jowita Przystał
• Melanie Walters and Aljaž Škorjanec
• Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon
• Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr
• Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita
• Will Best and Dianne Buswell

Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday night at 6.15pm on BBC One.