Strictly boss confirms Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones, Graziano di Prima and Nancy Xu won’t get celeb partners on 2020 show
STRICTLY Come Dancing pros Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones, Graziano di Prima and Nancy Xu won't be getting celebrity partners on this year's show, a show boss has revealed.
The reduced line-up due to the coronavirus pandemic has seen more pros than usual cut from the thick of the action.
Twelve pairings will take to the dancefloor this year instead of the usual 15, and even though AJ Pritchard and Kevin Clifton quit ahead of the series, there are still not enough celebs to go around.
Strictly Executive Producer Sarah James confirmed: "We have four professional dancers who won't be partnering celebrities this year - they are Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones, Graziano di Prima and Nancy Xu."
She also outlined how the new Covid regulations would impact the show.
"The way we're doing that is by doing two different things - we're using close contact cohort, which is an industry workplace guideline, and also bubbles," explained Sarah.
"Close contact cohorts apply to people who need to work more closely together and break social distancing in order to do their job.
"To be in a CCC you have to be with just one person and you are regularly tested to be in a CCC.
"On top of that we are also asking our celebrities and dancers to be part of an exclusive support bubble, which means that one half of the party has to live alone. So either the dancer or the celebrity will be living alone in order to form the exclusive support bubble."
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The show boss added that the four axed dancers would perform together in the guest music slots.
Nadiya was partnered with David James last year while Neil paired with Alex Scott, making it to week 11.
Nancy was new to the fold in 2019 and was only part of the ensemble, while Graziano's sole run on the show came with Vick Hope back in 2018.