14th series of the Strictly Come Dancing line-up in full

The 15 celebrity contestants have been unveiled in their official Strictly costumes in a series of official shots ahead of the live launch on Saturday evening Aug 27,2016

The 14th series of the BBC hit starts on Saturday when the celebrities will discover which professional dancer they are to be paired up with for the competition and with their help, hope to take home the famous Glitterball Trophy.

Along with the professional dancers, the celebrities will take to the dance floor for the very first time for a group performance.

There will also be one final dance from last year’s reigning champions and 2015 winners, Jay McGuinness and Aliona Vilani who will perform their memorable Pulp Fiction jive.

Once the celebrities pair up with their professional dancers, they will have three weeks to train before returning to the ballroom to perform live every Saturday night.

There will be no public vote in the first week and the results show with Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will begin from week two on Sunday nights. 

From then, each week the two couples with the lowest combined scores from the judges and public vote will face each other in the dance off, with one couple leaving the competition for good

LAURA WHITMORE

Age: 31

Occupation: TV presenter

Says: 'My friends are so jealous. I’ll be learning a new skill and getting fit! Just to learn a new skill will be great and I suppose maybe at the next Whitmore wedding I’ll get on that Jive floor'

WILL YOUNG 

Age: 37

Occupation: Singer and former winner of Pop Idol 2002

Says: 'The idea of Ballroom & Latin terrifies me and excites me in equal measure!... I just want to do my best, take it week by week and work as hard as I can.'

NAGA MUNCHETTY 

Age: 41

Occupation: BBC Breakfast presenter

Says: 'Pop me in a night club or on the dance floor and I’ll just throw myself round and love it, so I’m enthusiastic. For enthusiasm I get ten out of ten.'

 ROBERT RINDER

Age: 38

Occupation: Star of the TV show Judge Rinder

Says: 'I’m not very good, I’m a private secret dancer and I love to dance. The main reason is as my grandparents get older it’s a show they absolutely love.'

DAISY LOWE 

Age: 27

Occupation: Model

Says: 'I love dancing so much! I wouldn’t say I’m skilled but I love ‘Dropping it Lowe’, but I’ve never done anything like this before so this is a whole new territory for me with Ballroom.'

GREG RUTHERFORD 

Age: 29

Occupation: World Champion Long Jumper

Says: 'I have zero dance skills and I have zero dance experience so that’s part of the concern I have! To be honest we just did a fitting for the outfits.'

ANASTACIA 

Age: 47

Occupation: US musician

Says: 'Dancing brings you closer to your womanly side and I’m kind of getting in touch with my female parts that are new, as they’re only a couple of years old.'

ED BALLS 

Age: 49

Occupation: Politician

Says: 'I think the person I want to impress most is Len because it’s his last series and he is like the doyen of Strictly judges and I think he’s a great chair'

LOUISE REDKNAPP 

Age: 41

Occupation: TV personality and former Eternal singer

Says: 'I’m a mum, I’ve got my husband at home, I’ll want to go and get on with the job in hand and I’ll want to learn want I need.'

ORE ODUBA 

Age: 29

Occupation: BBC Sports presenter

Says: 'I'm really looking forward to being thrown well out of my comfort zone and meeting the other dancers and celebrities - it's a big, sparkly family I can't wait to be a member of!'

MELVIN ODOOM 

Age: 36

Occupation: Radio DJ and former Xtra Factor presenter

Says: 'If I’m with someone who doesn’t get my humour it won’t work. I’m all about having fun in everything that I do in life I want to enjoy it.'

CLAUDIA FRAGAPANE 

Age: 18

Occupation: Olympic Gymnast

Says: 'My only dance experience is linked to gymnastics and my floor routines – we need to be graceful and have musicality but I have never done any kind of real dance training!'

DANNY MAC 

Age: 28

Occupation: Hollyoaks actor

Says: 'I’ve got the memory of a goldfish! That comes from TV – it used to be really good but after doing TV you can learn everything you need to learn in 5 minutes'

LESLEY JOSEPH 

Age: 70

Occupation: Actress and Birds Of A Feather star

Says: 'I’m not 21, I’m not 31 or 41 so I think as far as that’s concerned that will probably be the biggest challenge.'

TAMEKA EMPSON 

Age: 39

Occupation: EastEnders actress

Says: 'Strictly has always been a dream of mine. So when the opportunity knocked, I answered the door and said "Welcome, come on in! I've been waiting for you".'