Anyone who watches Strictly Come Dancing should know by now that the fame of a celebrity contestant is far less important than the professional partner they are paired with.
The cast gets a kicking every summer, as people complain it’s full of influencers and nobodies, but the pros have been the real stars of the show for at least the past five years – Johannes’s presenting gig is testament to that. The pros’ real job is more than choreography and moral support – it’s to bring out the best in another person. It’s the partnerships, not the celebrities, we root for each week. Think of Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz, or George Clarke and Alexis: it is very special to watch those relationships grow, even if you’d never heard the celebrity’s names before September.
We all have our favourites – mine are Katya, Dianne and Nikita – we have years of memories and favourite dances, and it is through them that the celebrities not only learn to dance, but allow themselves to be vulnerable, to form a team, and to grow. A popular partner can change the public’s perceptions of a celebrity – it can make them more likeable, more human, and, obviously, more famous.
Which must have been the thinking behind putting Amy Dowden, one of Strictly’s most beloved pros, with celebrity hairdresser Chris Appleton. Perhaps the logic was that she could boost his profile, that her fanbase and the extraordinary amount of public goodwill towards her might compensate for the fact he doesn’t have much of a voting fanbase of his own. Unfortunately, as lovely as he came across, he’s just not a very good dancer, and it has backfired. Amy is out of the competition in week one for the second year in a row.
This premature exit feels very unfair, because Amy has had a mighty bad run of it on Strictly and everyone watching expected her to get a partner with a good chance of going the distance. Last year, she was doomed the minute she was paired with Thomas Skinner, possibly Strictly’s most controversial booking ever. The year before that, she exited early after collapsing backstage and suffering an injury, leaving Lauren Oakley to continue the competition with JB Gill. The year before that, of course, she was having chemotherapy. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer aged 32 that May, and was diagnosed with a second cancer in July.
Amy and Chris Appleton’s Baywatch Cha Cha (Photo: Guy Levy/BBC)It has been four years since she had a half-decent run at it, and given how considered every single partnership is – Aljaz will be a safe pair of hands for Melanie Walters; Carlos is a perfect match for Jaime Winstone’s camp; Vito will bring Lacey Turner out of her shell – I’m not sure why Amy didn’t get paired with someone with more natural talent (I’d have put her with Graeme Hall).
Coupling up on Strictly is a delicate process, but they’re usually quite good at getting the balance right: if a pro has had a long run one year, they often get a weaker partner the next, to give all members of the troupe fair exposure and avoid favouring any one professional’s career opportunities over another. Amy seems to have been treated like an afterthought.
But ask anyone who loves Strictly who they were looking forward to seeing this year and they’ll mention Amy’s name. It isn’t just that she is a beautiful dancer, or that she is warm, and generous, and good fun. It’s that she, perhaps more than anyone, reminds us why Strictly feels like a community. We have been watching for a long time, and we care about her. She has never hidden the trauma she has been through, and we have loved her for her resilience. She danced when she could and cheered on her colleagues when she couldn’t.
It is too trite to say that Dowden has “kept dancing”, or trot out more guff about the “Strictly family”, but in a room full of big characters and tough pasts and heartfelt “journeys”, Amy is sincerely inspiring. It was tremendously moving to watch her return to the dancefloor in 2024, hair short after chemotherapy, beaming with hope, as she always does; it is always a joy and a relief to see her well, energetic, and a powerful part of the team.
But she is long overdue a Strictly series that is defined by her relationship with a partner, and all her talent as a teacher and mentor, rather than by her strength through terrifying illness. No celeb or pro has had a harder Strictly journey than Amy Dowden – and she deserved a better chance than this.
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