Strictly Come Dancing star Ian Waite quits It Takes Two immediately after Zoe Ball exit

Strictly Come Dancing star Ian Waite has followed Zoe Ball to quit It Takes Two after 10 years.

The professional dancer has been a key part of the spin-off series for a decade providing informed critique of performances and endless hilarity with his Waite’s Warm Up on the show which has been presented by Zoe and Rylan Clark-Neal.

Confirming his exit on Instagram, the 50-year-old – who was partnered up with Zoe during the 2006 series of Strictly – told his followers: ‘It is with great sadness but also a lot of pride that after 10 years presenting Waites Warm Up on #ItTakesTwo the sister show to @bbcstrictly I will be putting away my wand to focus on my dance fitness brand Fitsteps and also my up and coming tour with Vincent Simone The Ballroom Boys.

‘I want to thank all the amazing crew, make up artists, directors, producers, who made it so enjoyable to come in to work.

‘I feel so grateful to have been given the opportunity to work with Strictly since the first year in 2004 and I will continue to support all my supremely talented fellow pro dancers, judges, celebs and look forward to their performances in 2021.’

Thanking co-star Zoe, he added: ‘This journey would not have been possible without the one and only Zoe Ball who has been the most loyal, loving, caring friend one could wish to have.

‘I will miss you the most but know that we will still see each other a lot in the future. Lastly thank you to all our wonderful ITT fans you are the best!’

Zoe announced her departure from It Takes Two last night, sharing a number of behind-the-scenes pictures from her time on the programme and explaining it was time for new ‘cha cha challenges’.

As it stands Rylan looks set to remain as presenter after joining It Takes Two in 2019.

A BBC Spokesperson said: ‘We’d like to thank Zoe for an amazing decade on It Takes Two, and she’ll always be part of the Strictly family. We will miss her sense of fun, passion for all things dance, and those amazing sequinned jumpers. 

‘We’ll announce plans for the show in due course.’

Strictly Come Dancing and It Takes Two return to BBC later this year.

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