Les Dennis has been confirmed as the fifteenth and final celebrity for the upcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing.

The former Family Fortunes host of 16 years, 69, has been in showbiz for over 15 years working as a TV Personality, actor and entertainer.

The news was announced on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Friday, August 11 ahead of Strictly's return in the Autumn.

Appearing on GMB, Dennis said: “I had a knee replacement two years ago and I remember thinking to myself, ‘I need to slow down’, but being asked to do this, it puts a spring in your step.

“I’m excited and I’m terrified. People of any age can do anything.”

The entertainer also revealed that he was asked to appear in the show while he was starring in Coronation Street and said he accidentally leaked the news on Twitter ahead of the announcement on Friday.

Dennis is joined by a star-studded cast including Paralympic champion Jody Cundy and former British number one tennis player Annabel Croft as well as BBC Asian Network’s Breakfast Show host Nikita Kanda.

Other contestants include Channel 4 Krishnan Guru-Murthy, comedian Eddie Kadi, Irish TV presenter Angela Scanlon and former Love Island star Zara McDermott.

READ NEXT: The Strictly Come Dancing 2023 line-up in full 

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Born in Liverpool, Dennis has been married three times, most famously to Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden.

The couple split up briefly in 2000 after Amanda had an affair with Men Behaving Badly actor Neil Morrissey, according to Hello!

In 2001, they reconciled but the pair confirmed the end of their seven-year marriage a year later.

He actually started his career as a comedian on the Working Men’s Club circuit in and around his native Liverpool before getting his big break on the TV Talent show New Faces.

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Dennis went on to star in sketch and variety show The Laughter Show, forming a double-act with the late Dustin Gee.

His TV career includes roles in Extras, Brookside, Death in Paradise and Midsomer Murders and two years in Coronation Street.

Off-screen, Dennis has also taken to the stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the English National Opera, and in hit plays and musicals such as Hairspray, Legally Blonde The Musical and 42nd Street.

This is the Strictly Come Dancing 2023 line-up so far

  • Sherlock and Mr Selfridge actress Amanda Abbington
  • Former newsreader Angela Rippon
  • Stage and screen star Layton Williams
  • Channel 4 journalist Krishnan Guru-Murthy
  • Comedian Eddie Kadi
  • Irish presenter Angela Scanlon
  • Love Island’s Zara McDermott
  • Emmerdale and Waterloo Road actor Adam Thomas
  • BBC radio presenter Nikita Kanda
  • Coronation Street's Ellie Leach
  • Paralympic Champion Jody Cundy CBE
  • EastEnders star Bobby Brazier
  • Casualty star Nigel Harman
  • British tennis player Annabel Croft
  • Family Fortunes host Les Dennis

Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer for its new series this autumn.