Stefan Dennis returning to Strictly Come Dancing for final
On Monday (20.10.25), actor Stefan Dennis withdrew from Strictly Come Dancing after he ripped his calf muscle on Saturday (18.10.25) night, but the star will return to the BBC's Latin and Ballroom dance show for the final on December 20.
Stefan Dennis will return to Strictly Come Dancing for this year's final.
The 66-year-old actor was "gutted" to withdraw from the BBC's Latin and Ballroom dance show on Monday (20.10.25) after he ripped his calf muscle by doing the Charleston on Saturday (18.10.25) night.
But Stefan and his 36-year-old professional dance partner, Dianne Buswell, will be back for the programme's final on December 20.
The Neighbours legend told The Sun: "It’s a bit of a s******, but I’ll be back at the end of the year, for the final."
The Paul Robinson actor - who got through Saturday night on a "truckload of painkillers" - has ruled out returning to Strictly Come Dancing in 2026.
Stefan added: "I’ve done too much to come back and try again next year."
The soap star - who scored 26 points for his and Dianne's Charleston to Dance Monkey by Tones and I - does not know exactly when the muscle damage was done.
Stefan told The Mirror: "It happened at the end of last week, it was nothing specific, we’d been training as usual, and it just started hurting.
"When I got it checked, they said I’d ripped my calf muscle. I got through Saturday night’s show on a truckload of painkillers.
"They took the edge off a little bit - but not much! I’m still not sure how we got through that routine.
"I thought I’d be able to carry on, but they said absolutely not. The muscle needs complete rest. So that’s me done, unfortunately."
Because of his injury, medics have temporarily banned the actor from flying home to Australia to see his wife, Gail, and three kids.
Stefan explained: "I can’t fly for another two weeks because of the risk of deep vein thrombosis, which my wife is pretty upset about.
"I just feel like I’ve let everyone down. They all say I haven’t, of course, and the pros know all about injuries, but it feels like a shame to go out in this way. It was all going so well.
"When you go out, you want it to be because the viewers have spoken, because it’s your time, not like this."
And Stefan feels guilty about pulling out of the competition a day after viewers watched retired England rugby player Chris Robshaw, 39, and his 36-year-old professional dance partner Nadiya Bychkova were eliminated from the show.
Stefan - who asked producers if Chris could return to Strictly Come Dancing in his place - admitted: "I said they should keep Chris in now that I’m going, but they said they couldn’t do that - once you’ve gone, you’ve gone."
