Strictly Come Dancing’s Amy Dowden said “mind blown” as she shared an exciting update away from the ballroom. The Welsh professional dancer was voted out of the BBC dancing competition with her celebrity partner, former Apprentice star Thomas Skinner last weekend.
They became the first couple to leave the competition after Thomas was voted into the dance off against former England rugby star Chris Robshaw and his partner Nadiya Bychkova. Tom and Amy performed their salsa to Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal which earned them 13 points from the judges on Saturday night.
Chris and Nadiya took to the ballroom floor to showcase their Viennese waltz to Die With A Smile by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars for a second time, which earned them 16 points on the night. The judges all agreed in their vote to save Chris and Nadiya, which meant Tom and Amy had to say their goodbyes.
Amy regularly keeps fans updated with her busy life away from the ballroom to her 709,000 followers on Instagram. In a recent post, she highlighted her profile has had a huge increase in the number of visitors in the last month after Strictly’s highly-anticipated return.
Posting a screenshot of her profile to her story, Amy informed fans she has had an increase of 36.2m views in the last 30 days. She wrote: “This just blows my mind! Thank you all for passing by. Lots of exciting things coming which I can’t wait to share with you all.”
It has been a busy few months for Amy, as her BBC documentary “Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me” was nominated for an award at the NTAs. She lost out on the prize to Molly Mae’s Amazon Prime “Behind It All” series.
However, she was also nominated at the Welsh BAFTAs awards ceremony. In an interview ahead of the night, Amy spoke of her cancer diagnosis and the impact of her documentary.
She said: “I never thought at 32 years old I would be diagnosed, and if I could get one person checking from this documentary then for me that is a result. Being nominated tonight for such a personal documentary is very surreal. It’s for everybody going through a cancer diagnosis who’ve been through it, to those we’ve lost to a cancer diagnosis.
“I never did this documentary for an award. It was genuinely to show the raw realness of living with a cancer diagnosis. But also raise as much awareness as possible.”
Amy’s Strictly journey has sadly come to an end already. But she had hoped to make it further in the competition as she was forced to withdraw from the show last year due to a foot injury.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 and has been open about her journey returning to dancing. The 35-year-old Welsh professional was partnered with JLS star JB Gill on the 2024 series. But her time on the BBC dancing show was cut short and she was forced to pull out of the show.
She was replaced by fellow professional Lauren Oakley. The couple went on to reach the final, but they lost out of the glitterball to Scouse comedian Chris McCausland and his partner Dianne Buswell.
Amy is ready to cheer on her co-stars for the remainder of this year’s competition. She recently shared a heartfelt statement addressing her early exit from the show.
She said: “Our Strictly journey has sadly come to end. Tom, you have truly helped bring me back, not just to the show, but to myself. Our training days have been filled with laughter and just enjoying the moment.
“Your work ethic, your heart, and your commitment the last few weeks has been 110%. You’ve embraced every challenge with such positivity, and I couldn’t have asked for more from you. “I would have absolutely loved to take you even further, just to share even more of the joy of dancing and the Strictly magic with you. But I’m leaving with a heart full of gratitude and pride. Thank you.
“What I’ve learnt more than ever this past two years what matters, happiness, health and to be grateful to be alive doing what I love. I wish all the contestants the very best of luck this season is going to be spectacular. I’ll be watching and cheering you all on. Lastly thanks for all the love, certainly felt it! Welsh love always xxx @bbcstrictly @iamtomskinner.”