She rose to fame as the bubbly and beautiful Welsh pro dancer on Strictly Come Dancing – but more recently, Amy Dowden has made headlines after a heartbreaking cancer diagnosis and has been lauded by fans for her strength and resilience as she battles through it.
Amy, 33, has had a roller-coaster two years – just 10 months after the high of tying the knot with her long-term partner, Ben Jones, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was forced to pull out of the 2023 Strictly series and in the past year she’s endured a mastectomy, chemotherapy, losing her hair, a sepsis battle and in November she broke her foot – the week before she was set to make a special comeback performance on Strictly.
But despite her devastating health issues, Amy has been more positive than ever, updating fans on her battle and busying herself with filming for series two of her TV show Dare To Dance – which sees Amy teaching would-be performers lacking the confidence to give dancing a go.
And she now reveals how her co-stars – including Dianne Buswell, Carlos Gu, Graziano di Prima and Oti Mabuse – have been there for her off the dance floor by appearing on the series, saying, “We started filming the show and unfortunately I had my diagnosis, but I was eager to continue and the incredible production team were very supportive of that. And I called upon half of my fellow Strictly pros Dianne, Carlos Gu, Graziano, Oti, and they came in and helped. They were brilliant!”
She adds that filming for the show was a happy distraction for her, saying, “I literally had two weeks off for my mastectomy, and then we got it all filmed between my mastectomy and starting chemotherapy. So, for me, it was a tonic I needed. It was this distraction.
“When I went in to dance, into the training room or dancing room, it was like my professional head was on. It was my normality. If I’d had that taken away from me, I think I would have really struggled.”
On the show, viewers will see Amy teach members of the public to dance. And reveals she formed a “special connection” with a woman called Debbie, who had cancer too. “I was teaching her to dance, but she was also teaching me resilience,” she says.
Amy even coached Debbie and her partner for their wedding dance, and attended their special day. “It was so emotional... definitely a day I’ll never forget.”
And amid reports that 2023 contestant Amanda Abbington was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after competing on the show, Amy – who joined Strictly in 2017 and has previously been partnered with Tom Fletcher, Brian Conley and JJ Chalmers – says the relationship between pro dancer and the celebrities is unique to each pairing.
Amy, who runs her own dance academy in Wales with husband Ben, says, “Teaching has always been a passion of mine and I’ve taught since a young age... Each individual is different – we don’t all respond in the same way. I can only compare my Strictly partners. You know from Brian Conley, my first ever partner, who would love to take a break every hour we trained with long chit chats and his jokes, to where JJ Chalmers would love it more intense, put the hours in and be really intensive. Same for Karim. Some of them need the softer approaches, some of them would rather I tell them as it is. “All of them were very different... you’ve just got to really wrap yourselves in them. And adapt to them to get the best out of them.”
Amy, who finished her treatment in November, is now focusing on her future. Her hair is growing back, she was whisked away by husband Ben last week for a Valentine’s Day spa trip, and she’s feeling supported by her family and friends – especially by the Dare To Dance stars.
“All of them kept saying that they wanted to do it for me, which was so sweet,” she says, clearly touched. “When you’re in something as intense as this, you all create such a special bond. Like a family bond, really.”
Amy's show Dare To Dance launches on Friday 1 March at 7pm on BBC One Wales and iPlayer
