Strictly Craig Revel Horwood's two-word reaction to Aljaz Skorjanec's surprise return

Craig Revel Horwood couldn't contain his excitement as he took to his Instagram story to share the 'fabulous news' of his co-star Aljaz Skorjanec's return to Strictly Come Dancing.

Aljaz took a break from Strictly in 2021 to prioritise his family life. In 2023, he and fellow Strictly pro-Janette Manrara welcomed their first child after two years of trying to conceive.

Craig shared a clip of Aljaz appearing on BBC's The One Show and shared it to his Instagram, he typed: "10's are reserved for baby Lyra @aljazskorjanec. What fab-u-lous news!" (sic)

It comes as The One Show's Alex Jones made a "huge" Strictly Come Dancing announcement just minutes into Monday’s instalment of the BBC programme.

The series made a return to our screens after it was taken off air last week to make way for Euro 2024 and Wimbledon 2024 coverage.

Alex Jones and Lauren Laverne revealed that Aljaz Skorjanec would return to Strictly in a bombshell announcement.

The professional dancer quit the show after nine years back in 2022, with his last appearance airing in 2021. Alex told viewers at home: “We are starting the week with a huge announcement about Strictly.

Co-star Lauren jumped in: “Ahead of the new series and its 20th birthday we have some exclusive news that you will not want to miss.”

She later teased: “It’s not long till we share the big Strictly news and all I can say is that it involves a Strictly legend coming back to the ballroom.”

She continued: “I can exclusively reveal that it is the one and only Aljaz.” Pro dancer Aljaz danced into the studio and joined Alex and Lauren.

Alex asked: “Are you relieved now that you can finally share the news?” Aljaz replied: “Yes. It has been a little while now since I’ve known and I couldn’t wait to tell everyone that I’m going back.”

“What are you most excited about?” Lauren asked. Aljaz revealed: “I think everything. Strictly gets bigger and bigger every year and especially this year for the anniversary.

"It’s a special show and I think it’s part of British culture and it makes everything happy so that is why I do it.”

The news of Aljaz's return follows shortly after it was announced that long-running pro-Giovanni Pernice would not be returning to Strictly.

In recent months, there have been complaints about Giovanni's teaching methods - most notably and publicly from his former celebrity partner, Amanda Abbington.

It was reported that Amanda had asked for the footage from their dance rehearsals after finding him "nasty" to work with.

Giovanni has since defended himself, rejecting "any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour."