Burn the Floor’s Fortuna quits Strictly

Professional dancer Brian Fortuna and his real life partner Ali Bastian are due to appear in the dance spectacular Burn the Floor at the Shaftesbury Theatre from 21st July to 4th September prior to Flashdance opening there on 27th September.   They are also at West End Live later this month.

But you won’t be seeing the American dance champion in BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in the autumn due to a change in format. Because of a drop in ratings last year, the BBC are re-vamping the somewhat tired show and recruited three new male dancers (Artem Chigvintsev, Jared Murillo and Robin Windsor ) meaning that five of last year's professional partners are no longer needed in their usual roles.

So Fortuna, Ian Waite, Matthew Cutler and husband and wife Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova have been offered roles in a new professional group which would perform "show-stopping dance spectacles" each week.  The Strictly shake-up will also reduce the number of celebrity contestants from 16 to 14.