'The show needs someone a lot different to me to get what they want' - Irish dancer Tristan MacManus won't return to Strictly

Tristan MacManus and dance partner Jamelia on Strictly Come Dancing

Jamelia and her dance partner Tristan MacManus (BBC/PA)

Tess Daly (left) with Jamelia and Tristan MacManus. Photo: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire

thumbnail: Tristan MacManus and dance partner Jamelia on Strictly Come Dancing
thumbnail: Jamelia and her dance partner Tristan MacManus (BBC/PA)
thumbnail: Tess Daly (left) with Jamelia and Tristan MacManus. Photo: Guy Levy/BBC/PA Wire
Eleanor Bey Griffiths

Strictly Come Dancing star Tristan MacManus has apparently confirmed he will not be returning to the show this year.

The Irish dancer (33), who joined the BBC celebrity dancing competition in 2014, has previously been paired with Jennifer Gibney and Jamelia.

But he told fan site MacManiacs.org – a website dedicated to all things MacManus – that Strictly is “not for me”.

MacManus (left) explained: “No, I won’t be going back. I think over the time I have been there I have realised more and more that it is not for me,” MacManus said.

Tristan MacManus

“I think the show needs someone a lot different to me on the show to get what they want, and I need something a lot different to make me happy and get what I want out of it. I think there will be a lot of changes on the show, and

“I have enjoyed it for the most part but right now I just need a break from it all.”MacManus, 33, joined Strictly from the US programme Dancing With The Stars, where he partnered celebrities including Gladys Knight and Pamela Anderson.

He told the fan site: “This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the other question, in that you can do whatever it is you want to do but when you have to start doing things you don’t, then you have to decide if it’s for you or not.

“You can be a dancer or you can be a dancer on a TV show and with that comes a whole other bag. It can be fun, but I’d sooner leave it as it is then spend all my time complaining about it.”

Professional dancers Aliona Vilani, Ola Jordan and Kristina Rihanoff have already revealed that they will not be returning to Strictly this year.

Rihanoff sent her best wishes to MacManus, writing: “Will miss you buddy. All the very best to you and your beautiful wife with the baby xxx.”

Brendan Cole, another dancer on the show, tweeted: “That’s a shame as Tristan MacManus is one of the good ones. I have some replacement ideas for you BBC Strictly!”

James Jordan, who has become an outspoken critic of the show since quitting the professional line-up, added: “Well said Tristan MacManus.”

A Strictly Come Dancing spokesman did not comment on MacManus’s apparent decision, but told Digital Spy: “The new series is still six months away and the 2016 professional dancers line-up will be announced in due course.”