Three departures and three new dancers as Strictly Come Dancing professional line-up confirmed

Fan favourites Anton Du Beke, Kristina Rihanoff, Brendan Cole and Natalie Lowe are all confirmed to be returning to the sparkly Saturday-night show.

Alijaz Skorjanec, Aliona Vilani, Kevin Clifton, Janette Manrara, Pasha Kovalev, Joanna Clifton, Karen Hauer and Tristan MacManus are also set to reprise their coaching roles, as is Ola Jordan whose future with Strictly was left in jeopardy after a skiing accident on Channel 4's The Jump earlier this year.

Robin Windsor, Iveta Lukosiute and Trent Whiddon, however, are hanging up their dancing shoes and won't be part of the line up when the series kicks off later this year.

"I really enjoyed my experience on Strictly Come Dancing! I loved everything about the show, dancers, judges, BBC, celebrities, fans... all of it was a pleasure to be a part of this wonderful show! I always tried to do my very best to show off my celebrity and add as much as I could to the show. This year I will focus more on my dance school in New York City since I was away so much, however, I will be more than happy to stay involved with the show in the future," said Iveta, who performed in three Strictly series, while Trent, who danced with Pixie Lott last year, added: "I was very happy to be part of the last season and very thankful for the opportunity."

Windsor, who missed last year's competition after a back injury, took to Twitter to have his say, tweeting:

https://twitter.com/Robinwindsor/status/591190345351823360

While Strictly fans will no doubt be sad to say farewell to both Iveta and Trent, three new and shiny professionals will be joining the ranks for this year's competition: Russian-born Dancing With The Stars pro Gleb Savchenko, 2012 Italian Champion Giovanni Pernice and eight-times South African Latin American Champion Otlile Mabuse.

"We are thrilled with our pro-dancer line up this year. Not only are some of the viewers’ favourites returning but we also have some exciting new dancers joining the Strictly family," said the show's executive producer Louise Rainbow.

See the full line-up:

Aljaž Škorjanec
Anton Du Beke
Brendan Cole
Giovanni Pernice
Gleb Savchenko
Kevin Clifton
Pasha Kovalev
Tristan MacManus
Aliona Vilani
Janette Manrara
Joanne Clifton
Karen Hauer
Kristina Rihanoff
Natalie Lowe
Ola Jordan
Otlile Mabuse

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