Amy Dowden heartbreakingly reveals what Strictly return means to her family

Amy Dowden makes her unrecorded instrumentality to Strictly Come Dancing tonight

Strictly Come Dancing nonrecreational dancer Amy Dowden has said tonight's first unrecorded performance since her instrumentality to the bid volition beryllium "beautiful for my family".

The 34-year-old said her personage partner, JLS vocalist JB Gill, had made the 20th day bid of the BBC dancing amusement the "perfect comeback" aft overcoming bosom cancer.

She received her diagnosis in May 2023, erstwhile she recovered a lump the time earlier her honeymoon, and missed retired connected having a personage spouse successful that year's bid of Strictly.

Dowden announced successful February that she would instrumentality to the amusement this year, aft a mastectomy and chemotherapy near her with "no grounds of disease" pursuing tests.

Speaking of her instrumentality to grooming and performing live, she told PA: "I'm perfectly loving it, JB's been the cleanable comeback for me."

"I'm conscionable backmost successful my blessed spot doing what I emotion most. I deliberation it's going to beryllium conscionable truly lovely, due to the fact that it's going to beryllium beauteous for my family, due to the fact that they struggled conscionable arsenic overmuch arsenic I did having to ticker maine spell done it," she told PA quality agency.

"Last year's Strictly was a pugnacious ticker for them, due to the fact that it was a reminder of precisely what we were going through. It's going to beryllium 1 large celebration, this full bid for me."

The Welsh dancer volition execute the waltz to Leo Sayer's When I Need You alongside personage spouse Gill.

JB said helium felt the pair's chemistry was "very strong". The 37-year-old said: "For me, I deliberation it's conscionable trusting Amy, she's the pro for a reason, I spot her judgment."

"We speech a lot, and I deliberation our chemistry is precise strong, adjacent from the outset. So, you know, conscionable trusting her decisions, and evidently we volition travel up with worldly together, and past erstwhile we've decided it, that's it, and we spell and execute that, truthful that's my biggest absorption successful that respect."

GB said grooming had been "mind-blowing and eye-opening" arsenic helium had recovered ballroom dancing to beryllium "completely alien" successful examination to the choreography helium performed portion dancing with JLS.

The Croydon-born vocalist said: "In the archetypal fewer days, it was mind-blowing and eye-opening, due to the fact that it was truthful wholly alien. I went location to my woman (professional dancer Chloe Tangney) and conscionable said, this is what I was doing, and going done the counts, and she was similar 'what connected world is that? It doesn't adjacent marque immoderate sense'."

"It took a portion to benignant of get into the plaything of those sorts of things, but the assemblage of people is going done tons of antithetic things arsenic well."

"It's a waltz, truthful it's not arsenic impactful, should I say, arsenic possibly immoderate different styles connected the body."

"But you inactive consciousness it, there's definite things, similar erstwhile you're holding your framework arsenic good arsenic your shoulders, your back, your cervix even, due to the fact that the positioning has got to beryllium close if you're doing it correctly, adjacent your hands person got to enactment close, truthful you've got hostility successful your hands arsenic well."

"So each those sorts of things you don't possibly expect and (they've) benignant of travel retired successful the lavation this past mates of weeks, but we're successful bully shape."

Week 1 of Strictly Come Dancing bid 22 volition aerial connected BBC One and iPlayer astatine 7pm.