Strictly Come Dancing confirms YouTube star George Clarke as sixth 2025 contestant

Strictly Come Dancing has revealed that YouTuber George Clarke is joining the line-up for its 2025 series. They became the sixth contestant to join this year's cast, after EastEnders' Balvinder Sopal was announced as a contestant on Good Morning Britain earlier today.

The YouTuber and podcaster boasts 678k followers on Instagram, and is known for his podcast The Useless Hotline with Max Balegde. He's also built a thriving digital career with millions of followers across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

"Never thought I’d say this… but I’m doing Strictly! Honestly, I’ve got no idea what I’m doing but I’m excited to get stuck in … and potentially fall over a fair bit," George said on joining the hit show. It comes after reports of all the celebrities rumoured to be joining BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2025.

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Speaking on Radio 1 George joked: "I feel like a lot of people will be saying who?" He then told the hosts it still "doesn't feel real".

The YouTuber then told hosts Sam MacGregor and Danni Diston that he'd been keeping the secret for around 2-3 months - and had to put his plans of a marathon on hold for the show.

We don't have long until the new series of Strictly kicks off on BBC One and so the line-up reveal has begun, with the 2025 stars being slowly unveiled throughout the week. It began with Gladiators' Harry Aikines-Aryeetey announcing he would be taking part on CBBC's Newsround on Monday.

Later that evening, The One Show welcomed three Strictly stars onto its sofa - Love Island winner Dani Dyer, Doctor Who's Alex Kingston and footballer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Appearing on The One Show last night, Dani said that Strictly will be "the second most amazing thing" she'll have done this year after marrying footballer Jarred Bowen over the summer. "I feel very, very blessed and cannot wait to get my dancing shoes on," she said.

Meanwhile, former premiership player turned football manager Jimmy said: "Swapping the pitch for the ballroom is certainly not something I’ve done before but I’m looking forward to tackling a fun challenge! Bring on a new type of footwork, with hopefully no own goals."

Earlier this week, Strictly's new professional dancer Julian Caillon confessed that he once staged a row on the show's Australian version to stir up more drama. “Reality TV is not necessarily what you think,” he said on the podcast Try with Alex.

“A massive aspect of reality TV is not really real. I remember in one episode of Dancing With The Stars, one of my celebrities was late to rehearsals and the producers were asking me to go around and pretend that I was frustrated."

It's been a dramatic build-up for Strictly so far, with the show reportedly launching an investigation into claims that two of its stars took cocaine. A source told the Sun, following the breakout news: "The BBC is taking the allegations really seriously. Bosses are aware of the two stars in question and have a duty of care to make sure they’re OK."

They added: "As per BBC policy, the option of specialised professional support is on the table and will be offered. While drug testing won’t happen on the main show, bosses are considering bringing in random checks for the tour next year."

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