John Whaite announced as part of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’s’ first male same-sex partnership

The UK’s Strictly Come Dancing will be giving us a bit of LGBTQ representation this year!

John Whaite, winner of the third season of The Great British Bake Off, has been announced as a contestant on the upcoming 19th season of Strictly Come Dancing, according to numerous media outlets. Whaite will make history as part of the show’s first ever male same-sex couple.

“From rum baba to the Rumba, all rise for star baker and now future #Strictly star John Whaite!,” BBC Strictly wrote in an announcement post on Twitter.

The openly gay TV chef, who now hosts a slot on Channel 4 daytime show Steph’s Packed Lunch, follows in the footsteps of Olympic boxer Nicola Adams and pro dancer Kaya Jones, who became the first same-sex couple to take to the floor last year. However, their time on the show was cut short when the pair were forced to withdraw from the competition as a result of Jones testing positive for COVID-19. 

“When they asked me if I’d be interested, I just bit their hand off because I thought, to do that and represent the LGBTQ+ community is one thing, but also just to see two men or two women dancing together, it’s not necessarily about sexuality, it’s just about intimacy and respect,” said Whaite to Matt Lucas on BBC Radio 2 when discussing his participation on the show. 

“And I think that’s going to be such a great thing in our culture, where men are sort of conditioned not to open up and not to be emotional. I think it might help to combat that. So I’m excited on so many levels to be doing the first all-male partnership.”

He goes on to say: “I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet and I don’t think it will until I find out who I’m actually dancing with.”

While it has been reported that Whaite may be paired with Italian dancer and Strictly Come Dancing pro, Graziano Di Prima, these reports have yet to be confirmed. DiPrima sparked a bit of controversy back in 2019 when he joined fellow dancer and Strictly Come Dancing pro, Johannes Radebe, in a same-sex dance routine as part of a results show. Most viewers loved the beautiful performance, but it also sparked more than 200 complaints. 

Hopefully, the inclusion of an same-sex male dance couple will allow Strictly Come Dancing and its viewers to continue promoting diversity and growing in the right direction.