A Strictly Come Dancing pro has been ‘left without a celebrity partner’ ahead of the upcoming season.
The BBC dancing series is set to return to screens next month, with the line-up revealed over the past few weeks.
This year, the likes of Towie’s Pete Wicks, comedian Chris McCausland, Love Island contestant Tasha Ghouri, Go Compare singer Wynne Evans and JLS singer JB Gill are competing for the glitterball trophy.
They’ll be joined by DIY SOS star Nick Knowles, former footballer Paul Merson, 80s music icon Toyah Willcox, BBC Morning Live star Dr Punam Krishan and former England hockey player Sam Quek MBE.
Completing the line-up are Gladiators athlete Montell Douglas, Olympic swimmer Tom Dean, EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick, The X Factor winner Shayne Ward, and Miranda actress Sarah Hadland.
Although the pairings are yet to be announced, it’s now been reported Kai Widdrington won’t be paired up with anyone due to a lack of female contestants.
This time around there is a gender imbalance of nine male celebrities to six female stars.
The 29-year-old joined the show in 2021, first being paired with TV presenter AJ Odudu, before working with Loose Women’s Kaye Adams and then Angela Rippon last year.
‘Kai has become the first casualty of this year’s male-heavy line-up,’ a source has said.
‘With so few female celebrities it was inevitable that some of the professionals would miss out on a pairing, but it’s a real blow that Kai is one of them.
‘He had a great run last series with Angela and is a fan favourite.’
The source that said that bosses had to ‘look at a number of factors when choosing which dancer to pair with which celebrity’.
‘They look at everything from height through to chemistry tests to see who will work best together and it’s meant Kai has missed out,’ the source added when speaking to The Sun.
‘He will be part of the group dances alongside other males who haven’t been selected this year.’
The publication has reported Kai is ‘gutted to not be taking part’, while his ‘fellow pros are baffled that he has been overlooked’.
Earlier this year it was reported the booking team on the series were ‘struggling to recruit’ female celebrities for 2024 after the scandals involving pro dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima.
‘One problem it has caused is that the booking team are struggling to recruit female celebrities for 2024.
‘In the past, some women have been reluctant to sign up due to the Strictly curse and others have struggled to commit to the full-on schedule. But this has made booking harder than ever,’ a source told The Mirror.
They added some women were ‘reluctant to be involved with the show while it’s under a shadow’.
Metro.co.uk has contacted the BBC and representatives for Kai Widdrington for comment.
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Strictly Come Dancing returns to the BBC later this year.
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