Dancing With The Stars Ireland professional to join Strictly Come Dancing

Kai Widdrington has been a Dancing with the Stars stalwart since joining the RTÉ One series in 2017

Moving over to Strictly Come Dancing is Southampton native Kai Widdrington's 'dream come true'.

Four new professional dancers will star in the next series of Strictly Come Dancing in Britain, including Dancing With The Stars Ireland’s Kai Widdrington.

Former Let’s Dance Germany professional Nikita Kuzmin, reigning South African Latin champion Cameron Lombard and The Greatest Dancer winner Jowita Przystal will also join the programme, which will return to the BBC this autumn.

The dancers already revealed as taking part in the series are Aljaz Skorjanec, Amy Dowden, Dianne Buswell, Giovanni Pernice, Gorka Marquez, Graziano Di Prima, Johannes Radebe, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Luba Mushtuk, Nadiya Bychkova, Nancy Xu, Neil Jones, and Oti Mabuse.

Widdrington said joining Strictly Come Dancing is a "childhood dream come true". 

"Watching Strictly from the very first series as a young boy from Southampton and now 18 years later, to be a professional dancer on the show is the most amazing feeling and the biggest accomplishment of my career."

The announcement came after professional Janette Manrara announced last month that she was stepping down as a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing to present spin-off show It Takes Two.

Last month it was also revealed that Anton Du Beke would be leaving his role as a dancer on the show to become a full-time judge.

The last series of Strictly was won by comedian Bill Bailey and his partner Mabuse.