Strictly Come Dancing star Amy Dowden has been given a huge boost following her sudden exit from the dancing competition this year, as well as the MasterChef Christmas special cancellation. The Caerphilly-born professional dancer found out on Sunday evening, December 8, that her poignant documentary Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me won the #ITalkTelly awards in 2024.
The documentary, which was aired this September, followed Dowden after her cancer diagnosis. The deeply personal documentary followed the dancer only six days after her breast cancer diagnosis as she navigated treatment, her fight for a future family and return to the dancefloor.
The 34-year-old missed out on having a celebrity dance partner on the BBC One dance competition show in 2023 amid her treatment for stage three breast cancer. In September, she returned for the 20th anniversary series where she was partnered with JLS singer JB Gill until she pulled out of the competition earlier in the month following an “insufficiency stress fracture” on her shin.
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The professional dancer was then replaced by Lauren Oakley, with the pair still competing in the BBC dance show. News of her injury left Amy heartbroken. For the latest TV & Showbiz news, sign up to our newsletter.
At the beginning of December, it was also confirmed that the BBC was pulling MasterChef’s Christmas specials from its TV schedule this year after presenter Gregg Wallace was accused of inappropriate sexual comments. Two Christmas specials were planned, with various celebrities set to take part, including Amy Dowden who was set to appear in the second episode, which was titled MasterChef Meets Strictly Festive Extravaganza alongside her fellow professional dancers on the show, Gorka Marquez, Kai Widdrington and Nancy Xu.
However, things are looking on the up for the Welsh professional dancer. Recently, Amy was spotted arriving at Elstree Studios in London ahead of recording the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special episode. You can read more about this here.
And on Sunday evening, December 8, she shared her joy after it was announced that her documentary had won an award. Following her win, she took to Instagram to share a video of herself thanking her fans.
Despite returning to Strictly Come Dancing this year, as she was partnered up with JLS band member JB Gills, Amy sadly had to leave the competition due to an injury -Credit:BBC
In the video, she said: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everybody who voted for me to win the I Talk Telly award for my single documentary, Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me. Honestly, I can’t thank you all enough and I really hope it continues to raise awareness and everybody is checking their chests. Lots of Welsh love”.
Many were quick to congratulate the dancing star on her documentary success, including fellow professional dancer Dianne Buswell, who said: “So so proud of you”, while Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies said: “Huge congrats!”. In response, fans said that the accolade was “well deserved”, while some expressed their sadness that she was no longer on Strictly Come Dancing, others praised the documentary as “poignant” and “honest”.