Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans, singer and actress Toyah Willcox and TV doctor Punam Krishan are the latest contestants to be announced for the Strictly Come Dancing class of 2024.
The three new additions were unveiled during Vernon Kay’s BBC Radio 2 show on Tuesday after blind comedian Chris McCausland and JLS star JB Gill were announced on ITV’s This Morning on Monday.
The famous faces will all take to the dancefloor in a bid to win the glitterball trophy when the 20th series of the BBC dance show returns to screens this autumn.
Throughout his 25-year career, he has had two number one classical music albums, has been a principal at many major opera houses around the world and has delivered more than 200 performances at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Born in Carmarthen, he was also crowned Celebrity MasterChef champion for 2023.
After being unveiled, Evans said he is most looking forward to taking on the ballroom numbers but he is “nervous” for the lively dances.
Reflecting on what he is looking forward to, he told Kay: “The classic ballroom stuff is the one I’m looking forward to the most because obviously for 20 years I was an opera singer so we did quite a lot of classic ballroom in opera.”
He added: “The stuff I’m really nervous about is the stuff that needs any kind of jumping because I think I represent every portly middle-aged father who’s like ‘I don’t want to really do the jive and set a minor tsunami off in north London’.”
Evans said he has prepared himself for the show by buying tap, jazz, character and ballet shoes as well as a new gym kit and a pencil case for making notes.
The singer was also joined during the interview by his long-term friend, Gavin And Stacey star Joanna Page, who said she is “very excited” for him.
Willcox fronted the new wave band Toyah in the late 1970s and early 1980s, known for tracks It’s A Mystery, I Want To Be Free and Thunder In The Mountains, before embarking on a solo music career.
She has also performed in numerous stage productions and featured in various films including 1978 drama Jubilee, horror comedy Aaaaaaah! and 2019 sci-fi Invasion Planet Earth.
Earlier this year she played at Glastonbury Festival with her husband, musician Robert Fripp, on the Avalon Stage.
Following the announcement, she said: “I’m super excited. I love this show, I love everything about it.
“Music makes me want to dance, it always has, and to be part of this – the spray tan, the glitter – I mean, this is a landmark show for me.”
Willcox also said getting to Blackpool week would be meaningful for her as her mother, who was an actress and a dancer, danced in the seaside town in 1948.
“It’s a big emotional thing for me to be in a venue where she danced when she was 18,” she added.
The singer and actress also said she needs to “stop seeing myself as the Ann Widdecombe of dance and music”.
Alongside her work as an NHS GP, Dr Krishan offers advice on the BBC breakfast programme Morning Live and BBC Radio Scotland’s phone-in surgery.
She previously co-hosted a podcast titled The Medic Mum and is the author of How To Be A Doctor And Other Life-Saving Jobs.
The GP said the show is “so out of my comfort zone” but that she is looking forward to taking on the passionate pasodoble because she loves the “drama” of it.
She confirmed she will continue doing her GP surgery but feels the rehearsals will be “great for the mental health” after a challenging day.
Dr Krishan said she will also be seeking the advice of her Morning Live co-stars who have previously competed on the show, including Helen Skelton, Sara Davies and Kimberley Walsh, on how they juggle motherhood with rehearsals and still “show up and sparkle and shine through it all”.
The announcements come after swimmer Tom Dean announced he will be appearing on the show after reaching the final of the men’s 200 metres individual medley in the Paris 2024 Olympics last week.
The popular BBC dancing show has made headlines recently after a storm of controversy over the alleged treatment of contestants on the show.
The results of an investigation, launched by the BBC following allegations made about Giovanni Pernice by former participant Amanda Abbington, have not yet been published by the corporation.
Pernice rejects the allegations and fellow dancer Graziano Di Prima has also left the show.
