Dan Walker has explained why he will not be making an appearance on the upcoming Strictly Come Dancing live tour.
The BBC Breakfast presenter proved to be a divisive figure among Strictly fans this year, avoiding the dance-off week after week due to public support while also repeatedly being forced to speak out to defend his spot in the competition.
Earlier this week, the line-up for next year’s Strictly tour was unveiled, with all four of the semi-finalists set to take part, alongside Sara Davies and Tilly Ramsay.
However, despite having finished in fifth place, Dan was noticeably absent from the list of stars, and has now clarified why he won’t be involved.
Posting on his Twitter account on Wednesday night, he said: “I can’t wait to take my family to watch the Strictly tour this year but I sadly won’t be part of it.”
“I have too many work commitments and I want to be at home after spending so much longer on the actual show than I ever expected.”
Dan added that he was sure the Strictly tour “will be amazing – as usual”.
After avoiding the dance-off for 10 consecutive weeks, Dan finally landed in the bottom two in Sunday night’s results show, alongside TV presenter AJ Odudu.
The judges unanimously voted to send Dan home, leaving AJ to battle it out against former Bake Off winner John Whaite, EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis and CBBC host Rhys Stephenson in the semi-final this weekend.
Find out how the remaining four couples get on when Strictly returns on Saturday at 7.40pm on BBC One.