Strictly Come Dancing 2018: Brendan Cole's replacement revealed as three new professional dancers join the cast of BBC hit show

Cole has left the show after 15 series, with Chloe Hewitt also departing
New recruits: Johannes Radebe, Luba Mushtuk and Graziano Di Prima have joined the Strictly Come Dancing cast
BBC
Natasha Sporn30 May 2018

Three new professionals have joined the cast of Strictly Come Dancing, replacing Brendan Cole who was axed earlier this year.

Johannes Radebe, Luba Mushtuk and Graziano Di Prima will appear on the show when it returns in the autumn, replacing Cole and Chloe Hewitt as well as taking the total dancers up by one to 18.

Italian Di Prima and South African star Radebe, 31, will dance alongside AJ Pritchard, Aljaž Škorjanec, Anton Du Beke, Pasha Kovalev, Kevin Clifton, Neil Jones, Gorka Marquez and Giovanni Pernice while Mushtuk will join the girls troupe.

Last year’s trio of new ladies – Nadiya Bychkova, Dianne Buswell and Amy Dowden – will all return as well as Janette Manrara, Karen Clifton, Katya Jones and Oti Mabuse.

Russian-born Mushtuk will be familiar to long-term fans of Strictly, having joined the show as an assistant choreographer in 2016 and contributing to group routines – sometimes appearing on the show.

She has also toured with popular stage show Burn The Floor as well as the Strictly live tour and Karen and Kevin and Giovanni’s own tours.

He told ITV’s Lorraine show of the decision not to renew his contract, saying that it was “hard to talk about” and had left him “in shock”.

The BBC Strictly press team later tweeted: "We'd like to thank @BrendanCole for being part of the show since the beginning - winner of the first series - and for the contribution he has made to its success. We wish him all the very best for the future."

Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC One later this year.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in