Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans, singer and actress Toyah Willcox and TV doctor Punam Krishan are the latest contestants to be announced for the Strictly Come Dancing class of 2024. The three new additions were unveiled during Vernon Kay’s BBC Radio 2 show on Tuesday after blind comedian Chris McCausland and JLS star JB Gill were announced on ITV’s This Morning on Monday. The famous faces will all take to the dancefloor in a bid to win the glitterball trophy when the 20th series of the BBC dance show returns to screens this autumn.
Evans is best known as the moustachioed tenor from the Go Compare adverts and is a presenter on BBC Radio Wales. Born in Carmarthen, he was also crowned Celebrity MasterChef champion for 2023. After being unveiled, Evans said he is most looking forward to taking on the ballroom numbers but he is “nervous” for the lively dances.
Reflecting on what he is looking forward to, he told Kay: “The classic ballroom stuff is the one I’m looking forward to the most because obviously for 20 years I was an opera singer so we did quite a lot of classic ballroom in opera.” He added: “The stuff I’m really nervous about is the stuff that needs any kind of jumping because I think I represent every portly middle-aged father who’s like ‘I don’t want to really do the jive and set a minor tsunami off in north London’.” Willcox fronted the new wave band Toyah in the late 1970s and early 1980s, known for tracks It’s A Mystery, I Want To Be Fre.