Arlene Phillips 'invited back on to Strictly Come Dancing'

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 06 October 2021

Arlene Phillips is invited to make a guest return to Strictly Come Dancing some 13 years after she was dropped as a judge.

Strictly Come Dancing producers have reportedly extended an invite to Arlene Phillips to make a special guest appearance on the new series.

The 78-year-old choreographer was a judge on the first six series of the show but was let go in 2008 and replaced by Alesha Dixon - a decision which she has always been vocally displeased with.

Phillips is now expected to appear on ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! next month and according to The Mirror, once she is done with the ITV contest she has been asked to appear on one of the final episodes of the current Strictly series.

"They want her back as a one-off stunt after she's been with Ant and Dec," a source told the newspaper.

"To have Dame Arlene make a special appearance on Strictly would suggest there's no bad blood any more. It would look good after they got rid of her all those years ago."

The report comes a day after ITV denied rumours that Phillips is in talks to join the judging panel of Dancing On Ice.

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