Babatunde Aléshé is the fifth star announced to take part in the 2025 ‘Strictly Come Dancing' Christmas Special.
Babatunde will be paired with Strictly Come Dancing Professional Dancer Nancy Xu when he enters the Strictly Christmas ballroom this December. Babatunde is an award-winning stand-up comedian, actor and podcaster. As a stand-up he has toured extensively, with his latest headline tour of the UK concluding this week ahead of international dates in 2026.
Babatunde has regularly appeared on TV in shows including Taskmaster – where he was part of the series 18 cast – and on ‘Celebrity Gogglebox', sharing the sofa with Mo Gilligan. In 2022 Babatunde took part in I”m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here', lasting 18 days in the jungle, and won a Gold ARIAS award for his podcast series Mission Imagination. Other TV appearances over the years include ‘Live at the Apollo', ‘Would I Lie To You?' and ‘Richard Osman's House of Games'.
Babatunde co-hosted the 2024 MOBO Awards and was Head Judge at the 2024 BBC New Comedy Awards. As an actor his work includes roles in ‘Christmas Karma', ‘Sumotherhood', and ‘Doctor Who'. He recently launched the new podcast, Man Like You, with Mo Gilligan and Eddie Kadi.
Babatunde says: “I used to do a little dancing when I was in college. I used to do Street Locking and Break Dancing, but then I found comedy and pursued that instead. At 39 I’ve accepted that a good two-step is all I need to get by at any function, but I know that won't be enough for Strictly! Let's hope the old moves come back to me in time for Christmas.”
Babatunde joins the previously announced Scarlett Moffatt, Melanie Blatt, Jodie Ounsley (aka Fury from Gladiators) and Nicholas Bailey in Strictly’s festive line-up. The final celebrity taking part in the 2025 Strictly Christmas special will be announced later this week on ‘Strictly: It Takes Two' at 6:30pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.
The ‘Strictly Come Dancing' Christmas special will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer this Christmas.
