Strictly Come Dancing: Karen Carney and Kristian Nairn confirmed

Strictly Come Dancing 2025: Karen Carney and Kristian Nairn confirmed in line-up

Natasha Rigler | 10:36am Fri 15 Aug | Updated 10:42am Fri 15 Aug

Karen Carney and Kristian Nairn are the final celebrities to be confirmed for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Radio 2 revealed the identities of both the former Lioness and the Game of Throne‘s star on Friday morning during Vernon Kay’s show.

Retired footballer Karen told stand-in host Gary Davies: “I’m so excited. I retired from football six years ago so this is very new to me. I’m very excited!”

Game of Thrones star Kristian Nairn and Lioness Karen Carney are the final Strictly celebs [Credit: BBC]

Actor Kristian said it is an “honour” for him to appear, adding that he is looking forward to wearing sparkly outfits.

Karen and Kristian complete the Strictly Come Dancing line-up 2025.

Strictly Come Dancing: Who is Karen Carney?

Karen Carney, 38, is a former professional women’s footballer. During her career, she played for Birmingham City and Arsenal.

The sportswoman made her debut for England in 2005. She has 144 caps for her country, has competed in four World Cups and played in the Olympics at London 2012.

Karen retired from football six years ago. She has since worked as a football pundit for Sky Sports and CBS Sports.

Kristian Nairn on Strictly

Kristian Nairn is an actor from Northern Ireland. He is best known for playing Hodor in Game of Thrones. He portrayed the part for six seasons of the hugely successful TV show.

The 49-year-old is also famed for playing Wee John Feeney on the HBO Max series Our Flag Means Death. Kristian is a professional music DJ. He was previously the resident DJ of Kremlin, a gay club in Belfast.

Lorraine’s Hollywood reporter Ross King was also confirmed for Strictly Come Dancing on Friday [Credit: BBC]

Strictly 2025: The complete line-up

The BBC has now confirmed all 15 celebrities for Strictly Come Dancing 2025. The final three names were announced on Friday morning.

TV showbiz journalist Ross King was revealed first on ITV’s Lorraine. Karen and Kristian’s announcements followed very quickly after on Radio 2.

On Thursday, Apprentice star Thomas Skinner was confirmed for Strictly during the Breakfast Show on Hits Radio. Reality star Vicky Pattison was then unveiled during ITV’s This Morning, before Neighbours legend Stefan Dennis also made his appearance on the show to confirm his signing.

Gladiator Nitro – real name Harry Aikines-Aryeete – was the first celebrity for Strictly 2025 to be announced at the beginning of the week. The professional athlete was followed by ER and Doctor Who actress Alex Kingston, Love Islander Dani Dyer and retired football Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

EastEnders’ Balvinder Sopal has also been confirmed for the 2025 series. Balvinder joins social media influencer George Clarke. Drag Race UK’s La Voix and rugby legend Chris Robshaw were next to be announced. The BBC then confirmed model and actress Ellie Goldstein for the line-up.

Alexis Warr and Julian Caillon are joining the Strictly Come Dancing pros for 2025 [Credit: BBC]

Judges and pro dancers

All of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing pro dancers have already been confirmed by the BBC. They include the usual Strictly favourites, including Aljaz Skorjanec, Amy Dowden, Vito Coppola and Johannes Radebe.

There are also two new pros joining the dancing line-up in 2025. They are Alexis Warr and Julian Caillon. American dancer Alexis has already appeared on So You Think You Can Dance? and Dancing With The Stars. Julian, from Australia, has appeared on the show’s counterparts Down Under, too.

Last week, Gorka Marquez announced he will miss a big chunk of this year’s series. Gorka will also be without a celebrity partner for 2025.

The dancer has a clash of schedules after being given a job on the Spanish version of Strictly, called Bailando Con Las Estrella. It means he will only be able to pre-record the group dances for Strictly UK and then bow out until later in the series.

The judging panel is remaining the same for 2025. Shirley Ballas will be back as Head Judge, sitting alongside Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse.

When does Strictly 2025 start?

BBC Breakfast confirmed this week that this year’s Strictly Come Dancing will start on Saturday September 20. Last year’s pre-recorded launch show aired six days earlier on September 14, with the first live show following the week after.

This year’s series will air every Saturday in the run up to Christmas. The dreaded results show airs on a Sunday night. The 2024 finale aired on December 14. Last year, Chris McCausland and his professional partner Dianne Buswell scooped the Glitterball Trophy.