Boxer Adams to appear in Strictly’s first same-sex dancing couple

Adams told BBC Breakfast (above) that she was the one who had suggested having a female partner when producers asked her to take part.

“I think it’s really important,” she said. “It’s definitely time for change. It’s definitely time to move on and be more diverse, and this is a brilliant step in the right direction.

“It will be nice for the LGBT community to be able to see there are same-sex couples on the show as well.”

The former boxer said she did not mind who she was paired up with, but added: “I’d only be wanting somebody who’s maybe a little bit on the short side because I’m a little bit small.”

Last year there was a same-sex dance routine on Strictly, which was praised on social media but drew almost 200 complaints. Adams joins the first three officially-confirmed names on this year’s show: former Men Behaving Badly actress Caroline Quentin, ex American football star Jason Bell and The Wanted singer Max George.

This year’s series will be shorter because of coronavirus precautions and Bruno Tonioli will be missing from the judging panel for Saturday nights because he is also on the panel for the US version of the show, Dancing With The Stars.