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Praise Be! The Reverend Richard Coles is Waltzing into Strictly!

Writer, broadcaster and Church of England priest Reverend Richard Coles is Strictly’s second male celebrity for 2017 and the first man of the cloth in Strictly history!

“Cometh the hour, cometh the overweight Vicar with arthritis in his knees.” says Richard.

Richard co-hosts BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live, recently co-presented BBC One’s The Big Painting Challenge and is a regular contributor to ‘Pause for Thought’ on the Radio 2 Chris Evans Breakfast Show, BBC One’s Have I Got News For You and QI.

He is also the only Vicar in Britain to have had a number one hit single. He topped the charts with Don't Leave Me This Way with The Communards; who went on to have three UK top ten hits and the biggest-selling single of 1986. Richard was also an inspiration for the main character in the BBC hit comedy Rev and served as consultant to the series. He is Vicar of St Mary’s Church in Finedon, Northamptonshire and Chancellor of the University of Northampton.

Richard joins Mollie King, Davood Ghadami, Ruth Langsford and yesterday's announcement, Gemma Atkinson in the 2017 line-up.

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