Lauren Oakley will 'carry the torch forward' for Amy Dowden on Strictly Come Dancing

Lauren Oakley has vowed to "carry the torch forward" for Amy Dowden on 'Strictly Come Dancing'.

The 33-year-old dancer has stepped in to partner JLS singer JB Gill for the rest of the BBC series after Amy was forced to withdraw due to a foot injury and hopes to do her co-star proud by continuing her hard work.

Speaking on spin-off show 'It Takes Two' on Thursday (07.11.24), Lauren said: "I think leading on from the groundwork that Amy has put in, I just want to carry the torch forward as much as I can because she's done all the work.

"So I want to just do the partnership justice and bring my flair as well to JB."

Lauren added to her celebrity partner: "You have kind of got the best of both worlds, you got to work with a couple of professionals."

The dancer stated her desire to reach the show's Blackpool Week and perform at the "mecca of Ballroom and Latin" at the Tower Ballroom.

Lauren said: "It's just the most special place."

Amy described how she was "gutted" to leave the show and stressed that it had "nothing to do with any previous health scares" after she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

She said: "I'm absolutely gutted, unfortunately I have an insufficiency stress fracture, if I've said that right, on my shin.

"This injury could have happened to anybody. I want to stress it's nothing to do with any previous health scares."

Amy also expressed hope that she could return to the dancefloor in a group number by the end of the series.

The Welsh dancer said: "Hopefully I'll be back dancing in some capacity, maybe in a group number, by the end of the series."