Strictly Come Dancing viewers feel "so good" about surprise reunion during launch show

Strictly Come Dancing fans were delighted on Saturday when Dani Dyer returned to the series. The Love Island star was forced to pull out of the BBC competition last year after she fractured her ankle during rehearsals, but she's back for round two and raring to go.

During the 2026 launch show on 19 September, this year's celebrities were paired with their professional partners, and Dani's coupling left her jumping for joy - along with viewers tuning in at home.

After it was confirmed that she would be dancing with Nikita Kuzmin again, fans rushed to X to share their thoughts. Expressing their joy, one viewer wrote: "Dani and Nikita are reunited and it feels so good!!"

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"Yeyyy Dani and Nikita get another chance together again I'm so happy for them," wrote another fan, while a third added excitedly: "YES DANI AND NIKITA THANK YOU STRICTLY GODSSS."

Speaking to new Strictly hosts Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe during Saturday night's launch show, Dani said: "Do you know what? It's amazing, last year I was devastated. I was heartbroken for days.

"I locked myself in my room, and my mum was like knocking on my door, and she was like, 'that's enough now, you've got to get out of bed'. I was like, 'I've got nothing to get up for'. Mum, she was like, 'you’ve got three children'."

"So yeah, when they asked me to come back, I was like, 'yes please'. I'm just so grateful," she added, before saying that she was "over the moon" to be dancing with Nikita once again.

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There was also another surprise reunion during the launch show, as reigning champions Karen Carney and Carlos Gu returned to the dance floor to perform the Jive that won them the Glitterball Trophy last year.

Of course, it was also the first time we saw our three new hosts in action following the departures of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman last year. Though there's been much change, the new trio were widely praised by viewers.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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Kirsty is a freelance writer and editor specialising in all things entertainment. Over the past 16 years, she has worked on showbiz desks at various national newspaper websites in London, including Express.co.uk, The Sun, and MailOnline.

More recently, she spent three years living in New York City writing celebrity and lifestyle news for DailyMail.com, The Mirror US, and Daily Express US. Kirsty graduated from Southampton Solent with a BA in Magazine Journalism and Feature Writing. When she's not watching reruns of Sex and the City, you'll find her listening to David Bowie and daydreaming about an espresso martini.