As if the promise of Blackpool in a few days wasn’t an exciting enough prospect for Strictly Come Dancing, the first celebrity taking part in this year’s Christmas special has now been unveiled.

And folks, we’re off to a good start.

On Monday evening, it was revealed that comedian Josh Widdicombe would be getting his dancing shoes on this festive season, with an appearance in Strictly’s annual Christmas Day special.

“I am utterly terrified this will end in humiliation and worried I’m going to be so bad I will ruin Christmas for the nation,” he admitted, questioning: “Why have I done this?”

Josh will be paired with Kauren Hauer in the Christmas special, competing alongside five more famous contestants to be revealed in the coming days.

The stand-up comedian is known for his appearances on shows like Taskmaster, Have I Got News For You and Live At The Apollo, as well as co-hosting the podcast Parenting Hell with fellow comic Rob Beckett.

Traditionally, the Strictly Christmas episode will see six brand new celebrities competing in a one-off special for the Silver Star trophy.

However, two of the contestants on this year’s regular series of Strictly are former Christmas winners.

JLS singer JB Gill triumphed on Christmas Day back in 2012, while Jamie Borthwick’s festive victory was much more recent.

The EastEnders star came out on top during last year’s Christmas special, where he and Nancy Xu landed a perfect score for their Quickstep routine.

Strictly will continue to announce the Christmas line-up for 2024 over the next week on spin-off show It Takes Two.