Dancing With The Stars is set to return to our screens in January for its fourth series, and they have added four brand new twinkle-toed professional dancers to the show. They are Laura Nolan, Pasquale La Rocca from Italy and husband and wife duo Stephen and Kylee Vincent. Stephen is from the UK while Kylee is originally from South Africa.

The four new pros are set to replace Curtis Pritchard, Ksenia Zsikhotska, Valeria Milova and Vitali Kozmin, and will join seasoned pro dancers John Nolan, Karen Byrne, Ryan McShane, Emily Barker, Robert Rowiński, Giulia Dotta and Kai Widdrington. Also returning are presenters Nicky Byrne and Jennifer Zamparelli, and judges Brian Redmond, Loraine Barry and Captain Sparkle, Julian Benson.

Curtis recently confirmed his departure from the show having been involved since the very first series back in 2017. After appearing on Love Island in June, Pritchard is set to appear in the final episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK along with brother and Strictly Come Dancing professional AJ.

Their role is to choreograph The Vivienne, Baga Chipz and Divina De Campo as they take on an all-singing, all-dancing finale challenge for one to be crowned the UK’s first Drag Race Superstar. Curtis will also make his debut as the new receptionist on the next series of the BBC’s The Greatest Dancer, working alongside Cheryl and Todrick Hall.

I’ve got some really exciting news to tell you – I’m going to be joining the next series of @GreatDancerTV on BBC ONE? I’ll be in the reception area meeting all the contestants! It’s an absolute dream come true, dance is my passion and I can’t wait to meet everyone! pic.twitter.com/ShxRHlTZmG

— Curtis Pritchard (@CurtisPritchard) August 8, 2019

As series four of Dancing With The Stars is fast approaching many are wondering will Ireland witness the first same-sex dance couple? We already know that the judges would support such a move. Loraine Barry previously said in an interview that “We have competitions all over the world where two male partners dance together. For us its not strange. It’s normal for us to see it and embrace it.”

The last series saw Darren Kennedy and Eilish O’Carroll, two members of our LGBT+ community compete for the Glitterball Trophy. However, they were both paired with an opposite-sex dance partner. The class of 2020 has yet to be revealed by RTÉ but should they announce a same-sex partnership, Dancing With The Stars Ireland will prove to be a little more inclusive than its UK counterpart Strictly Come Dancing. While Strictly recently featured a same-sex couple in a professional dance routine, it has yet to make history by pairing a celebrity with a same-sex pro partner.

Dancing With The Stars Ireland returns to RTÉ One in January.