A new familiar face joins the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel

It appears there’s going to be some major changes to the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel this year.

It’s been announced that professional dancer Anton Du Beke will officially be taking over from Strictly judge Bruno Tonioli on this upcoming season of the popular ballroom dancing competition show.

Due to travel restrictions surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, Bruno is unable to travel back to the UK and resume his judging duties for the 2021 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

However, fans of the show will be pleased to know that we will still have a familiar face on the panel as 54-year-old Anton, who has been on the show since the very beginning, will be stepping up in Bruno’s place.

Anton will join the rest of the panel, including Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse, ready to critique and praise this year’s line-up of celebrity dancers.

Speaking about his new role, Anton said, “My loves, I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be stepping into Bruno's brogues for the next series of Strictly. It's a dream come true to be judging alongside the best of the best and I promise to be kinder to all the couples than any of them have ever been to me.”

However, Bruno also had a few things to say about this new development, as he commented, “Whilst I am gutted to not be on the show this year there is one person and one person only that could take my place – it's just a shame they weren't available…haha! Darlings I'm kidding, I'm kidding!”

“Seriously though, I have to tell you, Anton IS Mr Strictly and if anybody is filling in for me, it has to be him. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way and I am so excited to see him waggle his paddle.”

Last year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing was slightly delayed due to the pandemic, taking place in October and giving us a shorter than usual run. As it currently stands, we unfortunately don’t have a start date for the upcoming season, nor do we know who any of the celebrity dancers will be.

We’ll make sure to keep you posted as soon as we find out more!