Jonnie Peacock is the fourteenth celebrity contestant confirmed for the brand new series of Strictly Come Dancing. The 15th series of the BAFTA award-winning entertainment show produced by BBC Studios will return in the autumn on BBC One putting the sparkle back into Saturday and Sunday nights.

Jonnie says: “The opportunity to be the first contestant with a disability to take part in Strictly’s main show was too good to turn down. I’ve got no previous dance history outside of the occasional ‘worm’ at a mate’s party and I know this will be a challenge and a new experience. I can’t wait to see what I can achieve and how far I can push myself.”

Jonnie Peacock is a double Paralympic, World and European T44 100m Champion. He sensationally won his first Paralympic Gold medal in London 2012 in front of 80,000 people and has gone onto to win every major event that he’s entered, including the 2016 Paralympic Games and the 2017 World Championships in London this summer. Jonnie, a below the knee amputee, contracted meningitis at the age of five, but has bounced back to become one of Britain’s best known and most successful Para Athletes, breaking the World Record in 2012, setting a Personal Best for the 100m of 10.64 seconds this year and being awarded an MBE in the 2013 New Year’s Honours for services to athletics. Away from the athletics track Jonnie wants to an inspiration to young people of all abilities and is passionate about building the profile of disability sport both in Britain and around the World.

The news was revealed today (Monday 21 August) on BBC One’s The One Show.

Jonnie Peacock joins Debbie McGee, Chizzy Akudolo, Charlotte Hawkins, Brian Conley, Susan Calman, Aston Merrygold, Simon Rimmer, Joe McFadden, Reverend Richard Coles, Gemma Atkinson, Ruth Langsford, Davood Ghadami and Mollie King who have also been confirmed for the new series. The final celebrity contestant will be announced later today.