I’m A Celebrity star is ‘second celeb to sign up’ to Strictly Come Dancing

Sam Quek, the former Team GB Hockey star and I’m A Celebrity contestant, is the latest celeb to join the Strictly Come Dancing line-up.

The 35 year old Liverpudlian, who won gold at the Rio Olympics and has since launched a successful presenting career, was confirmed for the show just two days after Olympic swimmer Tom Dean.

An insider shared: “The show is really tapping into the buzz surrounding the Olympics this year, as well as heavily leaning into BBC talent – perhaps more than ever before.”

They added that Sam, who also appeared on I’m A Celebrity in 2016, will bring some much-needed glamour to this year’s line-up.

This comes after The Sun exclusively revealed that Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri, 25, had also signed up for Strictly, joining a line-up that includes Paul Merson, Chris McCausland, Jamie Borthwick, Pete Wicks, and Nick Knowles.

Meanwhile, Olympic swimmer Tom, who bagged the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle on Tuesday night, may have landed himself in trouble with the BBC.

He confirmed The Sun’s scoop that he had signed up for Strictly – but this was before the BBC had officially announced it.

He shared: “Naturally you want to take a break after you’ve had a full Olympic cycle and the opportunity arose. I thought it would be really exciting to try something a bit different. I’ll be doing that and straight back into training after it. It’s something to look forward to.”

Usually, the stars of the show keep mum about their participation until the official line-up is unveiled by the BBC.

The bosses pull out all the stops to keep their line-up hush-hush each year – including using code names and top secret locations for filming.

However, the three-time Olympic champion confirmed our story and revealed he plans to seek advice from Team GB mate Adam Peaty, who finished ninth on the BBC show in 2021, dancing with professional dancer Katya Jones.

The BBC will begin officially unveiling the full celebrity line-up from Monday.

This year’s Strictly Come Dancing stars will reportedly be put through weekly psychological assessments in a groundbreaking wellness initiative.

The stars will be meeting with mental health pros regularly throughout the competition. The new measures aim to wrap a protective arm around both the professional dancers and the celeb contestants following demands for increased support, The Mirror reports. This change follows an official probe into allegations of “bullying” involving the show’s past dance pro Giovanni Pernice made by his former celebrity partner, Amanda Abbington.