Strictly's fifth star is comedian and BBC DJ who promises to bring 'vibes'
Comedian Eddie Kadi has been announced as the fifth celebrity to join the 2023 Strictly Come Dancing line-up.
The star, who is also a host on BBC's 1Xtra station, said he promised to bring “vibes” to the dancefloor this year.
Eddie said he's “unbelievably proud and honoured” to take part, adding: “I promise you, I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.” The news was revealed on Eddie's Afrobeats Chart Show on Sunday afternoon.
British-Congolese star Eddie became the first British black comedian to headline the O2 Arena in London and is renowned for his high-energy live shows.
This year, Eddie, 40, was also nominated for both the Royal Television Society Best Breakthrough Award and Best Breakthrough Presenter at the Edinburgh TV Awards. He is also in production for his own documentary with Channel 4.
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Eddie's announcement on the BBC dance show line-up is the latest since Krishnan Guru-Murthy was confirmed on host Claudia Winkleman's BBC Radio 2 show on Saturday morning.
The Channel 4 News anchor said he was 'delighted and confused' to be among the celebrities taking part in what will be the 21st series. Dad-of-two Krishnan said he hoped a stint on the dancefloor would be a nice change from his 'serious' day job.
Eddie Kadi is the fifth celebrity contestant confirmed for Strictly Come Dancing 2023 (BBC) The journalist, who has fronted worldwide events including the Omagh bombing of 1998, 9/11 and the 2008 Mumbai attacks, said: "I love my job. It’s very, very privileged, I go to amazing places. I talk to amazing people, but it’s incredibly serious”.
He added: “It’s quite stressful. It can be quite difficult and sort of the idea of being able to have pure intravenous joy, because I’m going to be doing the news at the same time, is just irresistible.”
He said: “I told my wife first obviously and I sort of said ‘what do you think? Do you think I should do it?’ and she was like ‘yes definitely do it’, which is funny because we’ve talked about it in the past and we were all like ‘no never’, but something changed this year. I think we all just kind of thought, now’s the time. Just do it.
“And I have an 18-year-old daughter who thought it was a brilliant idea and I have a 16-year-old son, who I’m really, really sorry I just have to apologise to him, but yeah he’s appalled.”
On Friday, broadcaster Angela Rippon, actress Amanda Abbington and Bad Education star Layton Williams were the first celebrities to be announced for the new series, on BBC One’s The One Show.
Rippon will make history as the oldest contestant to appear on the show, turning 79 before filming starts.
The 21st series of Strictly Come Dancing will be judged by Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse.
In 2022, the competition was won by British wildlife presenter Hamza Yassin and professional Strictly dancer Jowita Przystal.
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