The celebrity cast of Strictly Come Dancing 2026 have been doused in sequins and sparkle ahead of the revamped show's return on September 19.The BBC show has unveiled a first look at the contestants in their dancefloor finery.Returning star Dani Dyer, 30, who was forced to drop out of last year's series after suffering an injury in rehearsals, leads the glam transformations in a purple fringed dress and lashings of fake tan.Lacey Turner, the 31st EastEnders star to appear on the show, matches in an orange version of the dress, whilst Australian songstress Delta Goodrem, 41, glitters in gold.It's Gavin & Stacey icon Melanie Walters, 64, who has had the biggest transformation though, swapping her character Gwen's floral aprons for a plunging metallic dress and heels.The men meanwhile match in shades of red and purple satin, with Big Brother host Will Best, 41, and Kim Kardashian's hair stylist Chris Appleton, 43, ditching a few buttons to show off their tans. The celebrity cast of Strictly Come Dancing 2026 have been doused in sequins and sparkle ahead of the revamped show's return on September 19 Gavin & Stacey icon Melanie Walters has had the biggest transformation though, ditching her character Gwen's aprons for a plunging, tassled metallic number and heelsAlso joining the celeb cast this year are actress Jaime Winstone, former footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips, Olympians Dame Sarah Storey and Tabby Stoecker, Love Island winner Cach Mercer, House of the Dragon star Bethany Antonia, Graeme 'The Dogfather' Hall, Emmerdale's Lawrence Robb and social media sensation John Nellis.Strictly has gone through a massive shakeup for its 24th series. The show's long-time hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly made the shock announcement they were quitting during last year's series, heralding the start of the overhaul.After months of rumours as to who would replace them it was finally announced in May that seasoned presenter Emma Willis, comedian Josh Widdicombe and the show's professional dancer Johannes Radebe.In their first major interview this week, the hosts have explained how the new presenting format will work.Explaining that having three presenters was a 'wild card' choice for producers, Emma, Josh and Strictly pro dancer Johannes have admitted the format is still 'very open' just weeks before the live shows are due to kick off.'There's no like for like, so no one's kind of replacing anybody and at the minute it's all very kind of open,' Emma told The Rest Is Entertainment podcast.'We're having lots of production days where we go in and we play around and we're kind of feeling each other out - well, they're feeling us out really.'Josh added to podcast host Richard Osman: 'It's going to be like total football, Richard. We're going to be moving everywhere.' Dani Dyer, who was forced to drop out of last year's series after suffering an injury in rehearsals, leads the glam transformations in a purple fringed dress and lashings of fake tan Lacey Turner, the 31st EastEnders star to appear on the show, matched in an orange version of the dress Australia songstress Delta Goodrem glitters in goldEmma also clarified that Johannes 'definitely' won't be in a 'backstage roving reporter' role as some insiders previously suggested.The show shakeup has also included a focus on social media stars, disappointing loyal fans of the BBC's flagship show, who have criticised the 'weak' line-up, claiming there aren't enough 'household names'.Insiders have revealed the broadcaster has a casting strategy as part of its overhaul and has been deliberate in its targeting of celebrities with big social media followings in a ploy to attract younger viewers to the show.It has been suggested this is to follow a similar, hugely successful social media strategy employed by its US counterpart Dancing With The Stars. Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian's hair stylist Chris Appleton might not be a household name, but he does boast a huge social media following with 4million fans on Instagram.Sports YouTuber John Nellis has an even bigger fanbase, with 15.7million YouTube subscribers. The men meanwhile matched in shades of red and purple satin, with Kim Kardashian's hair stylist Chris Appleton ditching a few buttons to show off his tan Big Brother host Will Best is dressed head to toe in red satin and velvet Also joining the celeb cast this year is actress Jaime Winstone, already showing off her movesDancing With The Stars has used their celebrity contestants' followings to their advantage, introducing a TikTok Night last year – an episode which saw the contestants perform viral dance routines, sparking an uptick in interaction from younger viewers.The Dancing With The Stars TikTok account now has more than 5million followers, in comparison to Strictly's 670,000.And even before this year's Strictly line-up was announced, the professional dancers fell victim to the same strategy. In recent months popular dancers Nadiya Bychkova, Karen Hauer, Michelle Tsiakkas, Luba Mushtuk and Gorka Marquez have all been given the boot.It's understood pros with bigger online followings have been chosen over dancers who are not so TikTok friendly as the series tries desperately to attract a younger audience. The show shakeup includes a focus on social media stars, including sports YouTuber John Nellis Graeme Hall, widely known as The Dogfather, is a British dog trainer and TV presenter House of Dragon actress and West End star Bethany Antonia Tabby Stoecker, Olympic gold medallist and Team GB skeleton athlete Lawrence Robb, best known for his role in ITV's Emmerdale as Mackenzie 'Mack' Boyd Social media star and Love Island champion Cach Mercer British cyclist and swimmer and a multiple gold medallist in the Paralympic Games, Dame Sarah Storey Former professional footballer Shaun Wright-PhillipsOne example appears to be axed Bychkova, who has 214,000 Insta followers, while Dianne Buswell, with 1.2million Instagram followers and 973,000 on TikTok, has kept her place in the line-up.Meanwhile five new young pros have been recruited with ballroom champ Maddie Ingoldsby boasting 364,000 TikTok followers. The trio of new hosts also have a strong online presence. Comedian Josh Widdicombe has more than half a million Instagram followers on his personal account whilst the Insta page for his hugely popular podcast Parenting Hell has 250,000.Emma Willis has 2million Instagram followers and fan-favourite dancer Johannes Radebe, who will act as a co-presenter this year, has 458,000 followers. The insider has explained that the BBC struggles to attract big-name celebrities these days, because the landscape has changed.The source told The Sun: 'Crucially the pipeline that used to feed these big shows has changed.'Boyband and girlband stars aren't as prevalent any more and, once upon a time, getting someone from a soap or a big drama was a massive deal, but now even that has diminished somewhat.'Now, though, social media is continuing to boom and big stars from the world of TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are known to a vast section of society.'Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC iPlayer and BBC One at 7:25pm on Saturday September 19.