It was at the annual Strictly ‘speed dating’ event that bosses knew they were going to pair Amy Dowden with former boyband star JB Gill.
Organised for the professionals to meet the celebrities, they each move around the room and perform a short dance together and exchange a few words.
Show sources say that even at that early stage JB, a singer in the chart-topping pop group JLS, was considered one of the most promising contestants and would almost certainly rank among the two or three couplings likely to lift the glitter ball.
The view taken at the BBC was that it would be the perfect, fairytale return for Amy after her dramatic health scare last year.
Amy was just 32 when, in May last year, she was given the earth-shattering news she had stage 3 breast cancer.
Amy Dowden and former boyband star JB Gill on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing
At the time she was filming the BBC series Dare To Dance and said she realised ‘something wasn’t right’. She found a lump on her breast the day before she was going on a second honeymoon with her husband Benjamin.
Later that year, she was diagnosed again with another unspecified type of cancer and underwent a course of chemotherapy.
Amy returned to hospital in August 2024 for more tests where, finally, she was given the all-clear.
Everyone was delighted at her return. There were other reasons to celebrate too: it is Strictly’s 20th anniversary which began under a cloud due to the Giovanni Pernice and Amanda Abbington fall out, caused when the actress complained that she’d been ‘mistreated and bullied’ in rehearsals – allegations Pernice always denied.
It prompted a five-month long investigation by the BBC, which ended last month, with six of the 17 complaints against him upheld.
The show was in much need of some joy and having Amy back on the dancefloor – with a celebrity partner – gave it a massive boost.
But on Saturday night the Welsh beauty collapsed following her foxtrot to Dancing In The Moonlight. An ambulance was called and she was taken from the show’s Elstree studios.
The following day the BBC announced that she would not be returning for tonight’s show. Instead, JB will dance with Lauren Oakley who made her name on Strictly last year when she partnered Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
In a statement, the Corporation said that Amy, who also suffers from Crohn’s disease – a chronic condition that causes inflammation of the digestive system and can lead to extreme fatigue and weight loss – was thrilled that Lauren was stepping in. However, no other details were given.
Show sources say that JB was considered one of the most promising contestants and would almost certainly rank among the two or three couplings likely to lift the glitter ball
JB will dance with Lauren Oakley who will step in for Amy during tonight’s show
It left a huge question mark over whether Amy will return to the show at all. While she has yet to reveal what was at the heart of the medical emergency, it has caused yet another headache for the BBC.
In addition to the Pernice and Abbington saga, professional dancer Graziano Di Prima was sacked for kicking Zara McDermott during a training session.
And now there are internal questions over whether Strictly bosses took Amy back too soon.
One tells me: ‘There is some panic going on. It was a horrible thing to happen to Amy and now there are questions being asked about whether or not she should have come back full throttle this year.
‘She went through a terrible ordeal with her cancer, she was so brave and so determined. She loves the show and of course she missed being a big part of it, but surely she should have eased herself in a bit more.
‘Amy collapsed shortly after her dance. It is high pressured. She has made no secret of how hard it has been this year, it is so competitive. It has been kept top secret what is wrong, but it must have been tough on her to take this week off.
‘And then there are the optics, what does it look like for the BBC? Not great.’
Indeed, it is her partnership with JB, who has proven himself to be one of the top dancers of the series, that is also being cited by some as ‘not the best idea’.’What might have been better is if she was partnered with someone a bit less able, that way there might not have been so much pressure on her performance,’ mused a source close to the show.
‘But clearly she and JB would go far, so you have to question whether that was the right thing to do.’ Amy herself admitted just hours before she collapsed that she had been finding the show ‘very, very tough’.
She blamed the fact that the competition is fierce this year with the likes of Tasha Ghouri getting high scores while the show’s first blind contestant Chris McCausland has proven to be a wildcard. Amy said: ‘It’s very, very tough competition this year as you can see with that leaderboard.’
Former judge Arlene Phillips – a choreographer for more than five decades – begged Amy to look after herself. She told the Mail last Monday: ‘Amy is a powerhouse and wants to be back on that floor like everyone else.
‘Maybe there was a moment that overwhelmed her and she does need rest and she does need care – she will accept that.
‘Amy is the greatest fighter we have right now. I know Strictly will take care of her but Amy is also her own woman and what she decides goes.’
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Speaking in August about her cancer journey for a BBC documentary, Amy admitted one of the most difficult things was not being able to dance.
She said: ‘Everything I love most taken away from me, my dancing taken away from me.
‘For me, dancing has always got me through the darkest times. When I’m dancing, I forget all my worries, stresses and pain in life. It’s where I’m happiest.’
BBC insiders insist that Amy’s participation in the show was not solely their decision and that she is equally responsible for wanting to return.
One source said: ‘From the outset, the BBC said that Amy’s health and wellbeing came first. That was always the top priority.
‘Any assertion that her return to the show was led by the BBC would be wholly incorrect. There was no – and wouldn’t be any – pressure from us for her to return or be part of anything if she didn’t want to.
‘It would always be a mutual decision about partaking in any element of the show, as it would with any illness or injury.’
As for now though, the pressure is on Lauren to keep Amy’s dance shoes warm.
Some adjustments will need to be made to the routines as
Lauren is taller than Amy, but tonight she and JB will dance the couple’s choice to a Bruno Mars medley with JB dressed as the American singer.
Of course Amy will be watching and hoping she will be back on the dancefloor next week.
The question is though, will BBC bosses think the risk is too big to take?