Four New Pros!

The BBC announced the inclusion of four new pros this morning, taking the 2022 total to 20 pros for Series 20.

Lauren Oakley is probably the most likely to be familiar to Strictly fans. She has toured recently with Giovanni on his This Is Me tour and with Kevin and Joanne in Burn The Floor. She also was a regular guest on Kevin's podcast during the Strictly series in 2020.

I was looking through some old photos recently, and discovered that I actually saw Lauren back in 2010. She performed a dance demo as part of the Strictly Come Dancing Experience day, the day a new BBC One ident was filmed. Sadly, I don't have any videos, but here is a photo from the day: 

Vito Coppola won the Italian version of Dancing With The Stars last year with singer Arisa. The pair made headlines when they shared a kiss during a Dirty Dancing-themed routine on the show. Vito has been dancing competitively since his teens.

Here's a clip of Vito, with partner Kristina Garifullina, performing the samba in a 2017 competition:

Michelle Tsiakkas was a competitive dancer in childhood, but took a break to study and work in architecture. In 2019 she returned to dancing. 

Here is a clip of Michelle performing on Greek TV in 2013:

Until very recently, Carlos Gu was competing in amateur Latin competitions with his partner Susan Sun. Here they are performing last year in Blackpool:

Assuming a cast of 15 celebrities, that means that five won't have partners. I'm sure Luba will be hoping to be back in the competition, and Jovita and Cameron will be hoping for a first outing. Assuming all the new pros are partnerless in 2022, it would mean that one other dancer would miss out.