Due to a broken ankle, Daniel Dyer has been replaced on Strictly Come Dancing by fellow Love Island winner Amber Davies. The lineup change was made just before the first live performance.
Theatre star Amber Davies has been unveiled as the latest contestant on the new series of Strictly Come Dancing this week. She’s already begun rehearsals with her dance partner ahead of her first performance on the show.
It has been announced today that Amber, 28, has joined the line-up for the BBC show as a replacement for fellow Love Island winner Dani Dyer. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Dani had withdrawn from the contest after sustaining an injury during a rehearsal.
Amber will be partnered with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin, who was Dani’s partner. It’s been confirmed that Amber will make her debut on the dancefloor tomorrow night in the first live show of this year’s Strictly.
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It will be the latest TV appearance by Amber, who rose to fame on the third series of Love Island in 2017. She won the ITV2 show with Kem Cetinay, whom she later split from, after having both been original Islanders in that series.
Amber made her West End acting debut in 9 to 5: The Musical at the Savoy Theatre in 2019 and has since pursued opportunities to work as a comedian. She also appeared in Pretty Woman: The Musical and Back to the Future: The Musical on Broadway as Lorraine Baines McFly.
More recently, she played Jordan Baker in the Great Gatsby musical, which had a limited run at the London Coliseum that concluded just weeks ago. She starred alongside the likes of Corbin Bleu and Rachel Tucker in the show.
It was announced earlier this week that Amber’s next role will be Elle Woods in a touring production of the musical Legally Blonde. The upcoming revival of the show is set to tour the UK and Ireland from February next year.
Amber is also getting ready for Call to Stage live performances, which are scheduled for Sunday at the Fortune Theatre. The podcast, which was released last year, features host Amber interviewing other performers and is about musical theater.
She often promotes the podcast on Instagram and guests have included her 9 to 5: the Musical co-star Louise Redknapp, who did Strictly herself in 2016. Whilst an episode released in December last year saw Amber interview choreographer and former Strictly judge and Arlene Phillips.
Amber has also interviewed her partner Ben Joyce, whom she began a romance with when they were co-stars in Back To The Future: The Musical in 2022. She’s now being supported by him amid her Strictly journey, with Ben, who once starred in a West End production of Jersey Boys, reacting in a post earlier: “Does she ever stop?!! No she doesn’t!!”
She has shared insights into their life together on social media in recent month, including posting about a holiday to Greece last week. Whilst back in June, she celebrated the couple having moved into a new home together.
Amber, who has given insights into her experience as an actor, also occasionally shares updates about her family and friends, with her loved ones including her sister Jade Davies, who is a theatre performer herself. Amber is close pals with Natalie Paris, who originated the role of Jane Seymour in the musical SIX and who has previously been part of the Strictly band.
Alongside her acting career in recent years, Amber has also competed on Dancing on Ice. She was a contestant on the ITV show last year and she ended up placing fifth with her skating partner Simon Proulx-Sénécal.
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