Aug. 5 (UPI) — John Whaite has joined the cast of Strictly Come Dancing Season 19.
The BBC announced Thursday that Whaite, a chef and television personality who won The Great British Bake Off Season 3, will compete in the new season of Strictly Come Dancing.
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Whaite will be part of the show’s first all-male partnership. Nicola Adams competed as part of the first same-sex female team in Season 18.
Whaite said in an interview Thursday on BBC Radio 2 that it was an “honor” to join the first all-male team on the show.
“When they asked me if I’d be interested, I just bit their hand off because I thought, to do that and represent the LGBTQ+ community is one thing, but also just to see two men or two women dancing together, it’s not necessarily about sexuality, it’s just about intimacy and respect,” Whaite said.
“And I think that’s going to be such a great thing in our culture, where men are sort of conditioned not to open up and not to be emotional. I think it might help to combat that,” he added. “So I’m excited on so many levels to be doing the first all-male partnership.”
