THE bloodbath of Strictly Come Dancing pros may not be over – with Karen Hauer and Katya Jones also at risk.
They are two of the BBC One dance show’s most popular names, but as veterans, they are also in the firing line as execs look to take on new talent.
It comes after The Sun revealed that Nadiya Bychkova, 36, Neil Jones, 43, and Nancy Xu, 34, were the latest casualties of radical changes to the line-up.
The completed list of who’s in and who’s out is unlikely to be published for another month, but “difficult conversations” are already taking place with some pros.
Others — like Karen, 43, and Katya, 36 — face an anxious wait to see if they might be replaced by new names on the upcoming 24th series.
A show insider said: “It’s been some time since there was a ‘churn’ in the pro line-up, but they do happen every few years and there hasn’t been a big one in some time.
“The way producers look at it is a little like running a football team: even after Man City win the league they still change their team around and bring in fresh blood constantly, to stay at the top of their game.
“A lot of the people going are now established names and stars in their own right but you have to remember that to be on the show, they also had to replace someone else at one point.”
Rumours have circulated that bosses are keen to make a fresh start to coincide with new presenters being brought in to replace Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, who quit the long-running contest last series after 11 years’ co-hosting.
Execs also want to put distance between Strictly and the string of scandals that have rocked the programme in recent years.
They include dancer Giovanni Pernice being accused of bullying his 2023 dance partner, actress Amanda Abbington, which led to a probe that exonerated him of the more serious complaints.
Also, Graziano di Prima was sacked by the BBC after he kicked Love Island’s Zara McDermott during their rehearsals on the show in 2023.
It’s also been pointed out that many of those now in the firing line are older members of the pro line-up who, naturally, have been with the show during its darkest moments.
Friends of Nadiya were enraged by the news she might be leaving, with some of them suggesting it was ageism at work.
In 2024 The Sun exclusively revealed execs were looking at a cull of dancers in a bid to draw a line under the past.
But last year’s line-up of pros remained largely unchanged, with two new faces joining them — US-born Alexis Warr, 25, and Australian Julian Caillon, 30.
For the upcoming series, the final list — made up of at least enough pros to be paired with 15 celebrities — is still being drawn up, with show boss Sarah James yet to sign off on any changes.
But already Gorka Marquez, 35, Luba Mushtuk, 36, and Michelle Tsiakkas, 30, are also said to be heading out of the door.
Dancers who leave the contest could face a bleak future away from Strictly’s huge spotlight.
Some have been lucky enough to find other roles on the TV behemoth — with Anton Du Beke joining the panel in 2021 and Janette Manrara becoming a co-host on BBC Two spin-off It Takes Two.
Others who chose to leave, such as Oti Mabuse and Kevin Clifton, have moved on to lucrative careers elsewhere.
But, for many, the end comes swiftly without warning — and in a phone call that lasts as little as 15 minutes.
Dancers have found themselves deep in debt after losing their income while one sadly killed himself after his mental health spiralled after he was let go from the competition.
A source told us: “It’s brutal. Once they’re axed, there is very little in the way of duty of care and they are left to lick their wounds alone.
“The dancers are often told their fate in a 15-minute phone call, even when they’ve been on the show years.
“Many of them feel like the BBC has pulled the rug from under them, with no warning.”
While many professionals, who are paid between £50,000 and £65,000 a series, manage to capitalise on their TV fame to front their own money-spinning tours, several including Kristina Rihanoff and Brendan Cole have faced money problems.
After her exit in 2016, Kristina went into business with her rugby star partner Ben Cohen, who left his wife of 11 years, Abby, after being paired with Kristina on the show.
But their yoga and dance companies ran into serious trouble during the Covid pandemic and Kristina and Ben were left owing £1million.
The couple’s financial difficulties were laid bare in public during a court appearance in September 2024 when Kristina, 48, was caught driving her £30,000 Audi without insurance.
Another of the show’s best known names, Brendan, 49, also struggled to make serious cash since being dropped from the show in 2018.
He was left owing creditors almost £100,000 after the collapse of his business, which managed his dance-related income and appearances, in November 2021.
His debts included a £28,000 tax bill and a £50,000 coronavirus bounce-back loan.
Brendan had told how he was ditched in a phone call after almost 15 years.
He had been on the show since its inaugural outing in 2004 — when his eight-year relationship with fellow dancer Camilla Dallerup ended after he grew close to celeb partner, newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky.
Of his axing, he said at the time: “It’s quite hard to talk about. The BBC haven’t renewed my contract.
“We get contracted year upon year and they’ve made an editorial decision not to have me back.
“I’m a little bit in shock, I’m quite emotional, a bit raw about it. It’s done via a process of a phone call and stuff.”
Professionals can earn up to £30,000 for the Strictly live tour at arenas around the UK but our insider told how they live in constant fear of being dropped.
Our source said: “While the judges are offered two-year contracts, the dancers are only given a year at a time, so are always in danger of the axe.
“They live in fear of new dancers coming in and eclipsing them and new additions Alexis and Julian did exactly that in the last series, getting to the final and semi-final.
“They know they can not only lose the income from the show and the tour but all the other money-spinning enterprises which help them cash in on their fame — from their solo tours to the lucrative sidelines, like Strictly weekend experiences at Warner Hotels.
“Unless they are very savvy and have made foolproof plans for the future, it will leave them high and dry. It doesn’t take long for the public to forget dancers.”
The sacking of professional Robin Windsor led to tragedy when he accused the BBC of having “destroyed” him in a suicide note.
Robin, 44, was dropped ahead of the 2015 series to “freshen the line-up”.
A back injury had already forced him to miss out on a celebrity partnership the previous year, leading to mental health issues.
He left a note that read: “This all really started when I lost my job on Strictly and have been fighting it ever since.
“The way they treated me destroyed me . . . it all started me on the road I’m still on. All I wanted from life was to be happy.”
‘His ex-boyfriend, former X Factor star Marcus Collins, told an inquest how Robin, found dead at a London hotel in 2024, learned his contract wasn’t being renewed while on holiday in New York.
Co-star Kristina wept as she told how Robin had “changed significantly” after a disc injury in his back and slammed Strictly as a “very lonely space with not much support”.
Ballroom champ Aliona Vilani, 41, found herself at the centre of confusion over her job, following the first of her two Strictly wins.
In 2013, BBC bosses claimed Aliona had quit, but she was back on our screens after categorically stating she had not — then claimed bosses set her up to fail by pairing her with golfer Tony Jacklin.
Aliona quit for good following her 2015 win with Jay McGuiness and now lives in Florida with fellow professional dancer Vincent Kavanagh and their daughter Bella, seven.
It’s not just Strictly professionals who have felt abandoned.
In 2009, judge Arlene Phillips, now 82, was replaced by Alesha Dixon, then 30, without explanation, sparking an ageism row.
She later said: “It was a really awful moment. I loved Strictly.
“I have no answers to why and I wasn’t really strong enough to find the answers.
I didn’t have it inside me. It was so unexpected.
“There was no warning, no discussion. Nothing.”
Strictly pro couple James and Ola Jordan were told via email that they wouldn’t be needed for the 2012 live tour.
Two years later James quit the show after being offered a reduced role, with no celebrity pairing.
James has since described how dancers faced a nervous wait each year to find out if they will remain.
James, 46, who was on the show from 2006 to 2013 alongside Ola, 43, said: “I’ve seen it happen to many of my friends when I was on there.
“You’ve kept your diary free August, September, October, November and December, but you get told in June you’re not coming back
