For many a celebrity, the idea of learning a new skill, boosting your public profile and stepping out of your comfort zone is a huge draw when Strictly Come Dancing come calling.

However, not everyone finds the idea of the Strictly ballroom so irresistible.

Indeed, every year big names from the worlds of music, TV, sport and politics turn the BBC down flat.

As we get ready to crown a new champion, here are 23 of those famous faces who gave Strictly the thumbs down, and their reasons for saying no...

Gyles Brandreth

The Celebrity Gogglebox star and Countdown regular has spoken candidly about turning down Strictly down on multiple occasions, revealing there’s one major thing holding him back from saying yes.

“I ain’t got rhythm… I REALLY ain’t got rhythm,” he wrote on Twitter – as it was then known – in August 2022.

Steph McGovern

The daytime favourite told HuffPost UK in 2022 that she’d been approached about signing up for Strictly Come Dancing on a number of occasions, but had never been able to make it work with her schedule.

“I love the show and so many of my mates have been on it and they’ve all loved it,” the Steph’s Packed Lunch host said. “If I do it, I want to totally commit to it and as things stand, it would be near on impossible. I would worry about my little girl and not seeing her for so long.

“It’s interesting because the very first time I was asked to do it was probably when I should have done it, but then I had a baby. I’ll always say never say never but I’d just want to give it my all if I ever do it.”

Piers Morgan

The former Good Morning Britain host told The Sun in 2018 that he has no desire to “humiliate” himself on Strictly, despite the apparent vast amounts of money he claimed producers were willing to offer him.

“Dancing is not for me,” Piers explained. “They’ve offered me vast sums of money to go and humiliate myself on national TV.

“But I prefer to do it with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in the privacy of my own home.”

Melanie C

However, Sporty Spice has a rather different experience of being offered a spot on the Strictly dance floor to Piers.

She claimed in 2016 that a major factor for her turning down Strictly “every year” was the fact that the money they offer is, in her words, “shit”.

“I have had a meeting with them – they ask me every year to do it,” she told the Daily Star. “The problem is if you do Strictly it’s so high profile and you’ll find yourself in the [Daily Mail’s] sidebar of shame every day. And the money’s shit!”

Melanie later followed in the footsteps of bandmate Mel B by appearing on the US version of the show, Dancing With The Stars, in 2021, where she and partner Gleb Savchenko (ahhh, remember him?) finished in 11th place.

Jeff Brazier

After his son Bobby Brazier made the Strictly final in 2023, the following year, Jeff made it clear that the show wouldn’t be for him.

“I feel like that was Bobby’s world. I want........

© HuffPost