Chris Robshaw is the eighth celebrity contestant announced for Strictly Come Dancing 2025

The former England rugby captain will enter the famous ballroom when Strictly returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer this September

Published: 08:13 am, 13 August 2025
A head and shoulders shot of Chris Robshaw, smiling to camera wearing a grey/brown polo shirt
This is about as far out of my comfort zone as it gets! I’m hoping to take my dad dancing to a whole new level, and my mum can’t wait to drag me along to her Zumba class. Let’s see if a rugby sidestep works in the Cha Cha Cha.
— Chris Robshaw

Chris Robshaw is the eighth celebrity joining the team in the new series of Strictly Come Dancing. The multi-award-winning entertainment show, produced by BBC Studios, will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer for its new series this September.

Chris Robshaw is a former England rugby union player and captain. He first joined his childhood club, Harlequins RFC, straight out of school and became captain at 23 years old. He earned 66 caps for England and captained the national team 43 times, leading them to a Six Nations Grand Slam victory in 2016. At club level, he played 300 games for Harlequins RFC, guiding them through their most successful era and becoming the only player to win the Aviva Premiership Player of the Year Award twice.

On joining Strictly Come Dancing, Chris Robshaw says: “This is about as far out of my comfort zone as it gets! I’m hoping to take my dad dancing to a whole new level, and my mum can’t wait to drag me along to her Zumba class. Let’s see if a rugby sidestep works in the Cha Cha Cha.”

The news was revealed on The Scott Mills Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 on Wednesday 13 August and the remaining celebrity contestants joining the new series will be announced in due course.

Strictly Come Dancing is a BBC Studios Entertainment production for BBC One and BBC iPlayer and was commissioned by Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment at the BBC. The Executive Producer is Sarah James, the Series Editors are Nicola Fitzgerald and Jack Gledhill. The Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Jo Wallace.

Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer this September. Add Strictly to your watchlist on BBC iPlayer now.

GK

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