A WELL-loved Italian dancer has been tipped to join the Strictly Come Dancing pros this series.
The BBC show confirmed that two new faces will be added to the line-up and we can reveal that one of those in talks is former Dancing With The Stars winner – Pasquale La Rocca.
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A TV insider revealed: “Pasquale is well known and very popular in the industry so would be a perfect fit.
“He’s had meetings with bosses and is being lined up as the next Giovanni Pernice.
“A final decision is yet to be made but it won’t be long following the news of the return cast – and Pasquale ticks all the right boxes.”
The ballroom and Latin champ, 35, already has a number of links to the show and is good friends with many of the stars.
In 2018, he even appeared as a background dancer on the Strictly Blackpool special.
He was also working closely with Giovanni himself, collaborating on the Ballando classes.
In a surprising move last summer though, he announced he would no longer be taking part in them.
Pasquale wrote at the time: “Over the last few days I have received a lot of DMs and messages from you in regards to my dance classes. I thought I should clear the air and give you an update on what’s happening from my side.
“Circumstances out of my control have brought my Ballando dance classes journey to an end. I don’t wish to linger on this, but to move forward.”
The star quit the Irish version of Strictly – Dancing With The Stars – in 2023, after winning five times.
He has also danced on the Italian and Belgian versions of the show.
There are currently ten female dancers and eight male ones on the roster, which would suggest that two more men will be joining.
Dancers including last year’s winner Dianne Buswell, who won the series with blind comedian Chris McCausland, Katya Jones and Aljaz Skorjanec will be back when the show returns in the autumn.
Also returning to the professional dancing cast for 2025 will be Nadiya Bychkova, Karen Hauer, Neil Jones, Nikita Kuzmin, Gorka Marquez, Luba Mushtuk, Jowita Przystal, Johannes Radebe, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley, Michelle Tsiakkas and Vito Coppola.
Amy Dowden has also been confirmed as returning after being forced to pull out midway through last year’s competition.
All your Strictly Come Dancing winners
Strictly first kicked off back in 2004, and over the years has crowned 21 winners.
