Strictly 2026 fans fume over treatment of new professional dancers as three are benched
Fans will have to wait for the newbies to get their celeb partnersStrictly 2026 fans were left furious over the treatment of the new pro dancers during last night’s launch show (Saturday, September 19).
Of the five new professional dancers introduced this year, only two received celebrity partners.
Three new pros miss out on celeb partners in Strictly 2026
Last night saw a new era of Strictly launch on BBC One.
As well as featuring a fresh crop of celebrities and three new hosts in the form of Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe, and Johannes Radebe, five new professional dancers also made their debuts on the show.
Maddie Ingoldsby, Aleksandra Isaeva, Mark Karmalita, Lethabo Monametsi, and Cristian Priori joined the show last night and arrived in style with a spectacular routine.
However, when it came to pairing the dancers up with the celebs, only two of the new pros were involved.
Maddie, 21, was paired up with 25-year-old Love Island star Cach Mercer.
Meanwhile, Canadian pro Mark, 23, was paired up with Olympic champion Tabby Stoecker.
This means that Cristian, Lethabo, and Aleksandra are all without partners this series.
Fans fume over treatment of new pros
Taking to X, some fans hit out at the decision to bench three of the five new pros.
“What’s the point of bringing in newbies if you’re not showcasing them?” one fan tweeted.
“I hope the other 3 new pros gets theirs next year [fingers crossed emojis] both [sic] are so lovely!! Gutted for them,” another said.
“Would have loved to have seen Lethabo [paired up], her part was so good in the pro dance,” a third fumed.
“They’ve benched Cristian; I feel sick omfg, I can’t take this…,” another added.
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Neil Jones benched again
Aleksandra, Lethabo, and Cristian aren’t the only pros to be benched this year.
Strictly stalwart Neil Jones has also found himself without a celebrity partner once again this year.
The dancer, 44, has had just three celebrity partners in his 11 years on the show. However, he has had six partners on the Christmas specials.
Neil made a jokey video on Instagram about his lack of celeb partner. In the video, the dancer wrote: “If I get the pen in the cup I will get a celeb partner.”
He then swapped the cup for a big bin. However, just as he was about to drop the pen in the bin, someone off-screen caught it and snatched it away.
“You know I love being part of @bbcstrictly and honestly, after adding 2 Guinness World Records last year to my 45 titles around the world, I feel like it would be greedy to win the glitter ball as well, so I wanted to give the others a chance,” he captioned the post.
“JUSTICE FOR NEIL!!” one fan wrote in the comment section. “Neil, please…don’t do this; think we are mourning more than you at this point,” another said.
Read more: Strictly 2026 fans predict Lacey Turner will win as they tip Graeme Hall to be out first
Strictly continues next Saturday (September 26) from 6.15pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
