Amy Dowden says she is getting used to new normal on Strictly return

By Charlotte McLaughlin, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter

Amy Dowden says she is getting used to the “new normal” as she continues to make her Strictly Come Dancing return after going through cancer treatment.

The Welsh professional dancer, 34, is partnered with JLS star JB Gill on this season of BBC One’s celebrity competition show, and had her first live dance of the series at the weekend.

When asked if she felt like herself again, Dowden told ITV’s Lorraine on Wednesday: “It’s a new normal, and I’ve got a new upper body because I have a hormone-fed cancer, I’ve been put into menopause.

“And it’s just like accepting, I put weight on, understandably, because I broke my foot, as you remember, there was the (chemotherapy), I put two stone on, but I’ve lost a bit.

“But you know what? It’s just my body, it got me through it. I’m proud. I’m proud of my body.”

Dowden found a lump the day before her honeymoon in 2023 with her husband, the professional dancer Ben Jones.

She subsequently underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy for her breast cancer diagnosis, and skipped last year’s series of the show as a competitor.

The BBC documentary, Strictly Amy: Cancer And Me, saw the dancer speaking about undergoing an egg retrieval to give her and her husband the chance to try for a baby at some point in the future.

A health check showed “no evidence of disease” earlier this year, and during the 20th anniversary series launch show, the professionals performed an emotional dance that signalled Dowden’s return to the show.

Dowden also told Lorraine that she would be doing a “quite sexy” cha cha cha on Saturday, which she says the show has not seen from her before.

Gill said: “Amy’s not letting me go off easy. She’s like the judges are going to expect a lot.”

They topped the judges’ leaderboard with a waltz to When I Need You by singer Leo Sayer.

Strictly continues on Saturday on BBC One.