Exclusive: Janette Manrara admits Strictly Come Dancing "took up so much" of her life

Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Janette Manrara has opened up about how being on the show left her very little time to pursue other aspects of her career. Janette appeared on the much-loved BBC series from 2013 until 2020, later co-hosting the spin-off show Strictly: It Takes Two, and she's now acting onstage in the play Affluenza.

Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy at the 2026 Pride of Britain Awards, Janette admitted that she would love to star in a movie one day.

"I would love to do a film one day, but as long as I'm entertaining and telling stories and doing something wonderful to communicate and share an experience with an audience, I think that for me that is going to be good. And I could do it in television or film or theatre, whichever way."

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Asked if she'd had any acting classes in preparation, Janette revealed: "Well, the play is an acting class in itself. I play four roles in the play I'm doing at the moment, and I have an acting coach I've been working with.

"The thing is, I've been working with them for years, so I kind of almost manifested this play to happen."

Referencing her old job, she continued: "With Strictly always kind of... not being in the way, but taking up so much of my life, it was really hard to do anything else.

"So I know they say it's a cliche that one door closes and another one opens, so of course at the time I was sad, but now I'm actually going like, 'you know what? I'm really happy with what I'm doing'. I've been wanting to do more of this stuff anyway."

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Janette went on to confirm that she's still mates with all of her former Strictly Come Dancing co-stars, and said: "They're all good friends. I mean, I've been working on the show for almost 14 years, so they became extended family to me."

She admitted that she's "rooting for all of them" this year and when asked if she is watching the 2026 series, she replied: "Yeah, well, when I can, because I'm doing my show now, but yeah I catch up on Sundays."

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and streams on 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.