Luba Mushtuk confirmed she was leaving Strictly Come Dancing on March 27, 2026, in an Instagram post that framed the departure as her own decision. It was not. Earlier in the 2025 series, with no celebrity partner assigned to her that year, she sat on It Takes Two alongside Lauren Oakley and said she was only just beginning. “She’s not finished yet,” she said. “She’s only starting. Watch this space.” The following March, the BBC confirmed she would not be coming back.
Karen Carney, three months after winning the 2025 series with partner Carlos Gu, left a comment on Mushtuk’s farewell post that went beyond a polite phrase. She wrote: “Thank you for being so kind and supportive to me on the show. It was so great to get to know you.” The BBC’s own statement, released the same morning, used nearly the same language. For three years, warmth, professionalism, and care for celebrity partners had been what the corporation said it was working to restore inside the show, named in new welfare policies and a formal apology to Amanda Abbington. Mushtuk had demonstrated all of it for a decade and had just been told she was not coming back.
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Did Luba Mushtuk Quit Strictly or Was She Axed?
Mushtuk, 36, is one of five professional dancers not returning to the 2026 series. Reports in The Sun, followed up by The Independent, indicated she was told of the decision before any public announcement was made. A source told The Sun that BBC bosses wanted “new faces after all the drama in recent years.” When The Independent asked the BBC, the corporation said plans for the 2026 series would be confirmed “in due course.” The decision, by multiple accounts, was not hers.
Her Instagram post read:
“With a heart full of gratitude, the time has come for me to step away from Strictly Come Dancing. I am deeply grateful for the past 10 years on this beautiful show. Thank you for the amazing opportunity and the unforgettable memories. It has truly meant the world to me. Now it’s time for me to follow my dreams beyond the show, and I’m excited for what the future holds.”
The BBC’s statement followed hours later, describing her contribution as “outstanding” and confirming she would not feature in the 2026 lineup. The sourced reporting made clear the decision had already been taken before either statement was published.
Who Is Luba Mushtuk?
Born November 14, 1989, in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Mushtuk started dancing at four years old, inspired by her older brother. At twelve, she moved to Italy to train under Caterina Arzenton, a world champion teacher at the time.
She became a four-time Italian Dance Championship winner, took the Italian Open Latin Show Dance title, reached the final of the Latin European Championships, and finished runner-up at the European 10 Dance Championships. In 2015, she joined the touring cast of Burn the Floor, the production that had run on Broadway and in the West End.
Her entry into Strictly in 2016 came through the show’s choreographer Jason Gilkison, who approached her directly. She described the moment on It Takes Two: “I had a call with him and two days later I was already here. I remember sitting there for two years thinking, ‘I just want to be on that floor.'”
She spent 2016 and 2017 as an assistant choreographer before officially joining the professional lineup in 2018. That year she won the BBC Children in Need special alongside singer Shane Lynch. In November 2023, she became a British citizen.
Over seven competitive series on the main show, she was paired with four celebrities:
| Year | Celebrity Partner | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | James Cracknell (Olympic gold medallist, rowing) | First couple eliminated |
| 2020 | Jason Bell (former NFL player, BBC presenter) | Second couple eliminated |
| 2023 | Adam Thomas (Emmerdale and Waterloo Road) | Reached week seven, ninth place |
| 2024 | Nick Knowles (DIY: SOS presenter) | Third couple eliminated |
In 2021 and 2022, she was not given a celebrity partner and appeared in group routines. Her furthest competitive run was alongside Adam Thomas in 2023, reaching week seven before a dance-off against Angela Rippon and Kai Widdrington that Anton Du Beke called “the closest we’ve had in the series so far.”
Her final competitive series with Nick Knowles in 2024 ended on October 13 in a dance-off against Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu. On It Takes Two afterwards, she offered to choreograph Knowles’ first wedding dance with his fiancรฉe Katie Dadzie: the Argentine Tango they had wanted to perform on the show but never got the chance to.
She Is One of Five Professionals Not Returning to Strictly in 2026
Mushtuk’s exit is part of a clearout of the professional lineup with no recent precedent on the show. Five long-serving dancers were confirmed as not returning within the same week:
- Karen Hauer: Joined Strictly in 2012, the show’s longest-serving female professional. Confirmed her departure earlier that week.
- Nadiya Bychkova: Nine years on the show. Confirmed alongside Hauer.
- Luba Mushtuk: Confirmed March 27, 2026.
- Michelle Tsiakkas: Confirmed March 31, 2026, and subsequently withdrew from the Strictly Professionals 2026 tour.
- Gorka Mรกrquez: Ten years on the show, three grand final appearances. Confirmed the same week.
The hosts had already gone. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman stepped down following the 2025 series, their last show being the December 20 grand final in which Karen Carney and Carlos Gu were crowned champions. New co-hosts have not been named. All four judges (Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke and Motsi Mabuse) are confirmed as returning.
The BBC has offered no public explanation of the criteria behind who was retained and who was not.
Why Did Luba Mushtuk Leave Strictly Come Dancing?
The sourced explanation, that BBC bosses wanted “new faces after all the drama in recent years,” refers to a specific and documented period in the show’s history.
In 2023, actress Amanda Abbington withdrew from the show and subsequently accused professional Giovanni Pernice of creating a toxic environment during rehearsals. Pernice denied the allegations. A BBC investigation completed in 2024 upheld complaints about swearing and giving negative feedback but found no evidence of physical aggression. The BBC formally apologised to Abbington. Before that investigation concluded, professional Graziano Di Prima was removed from the 2024 series after footage reportedly showed him kicking celebrity partner Zara McDermott during training. A representative confirmed the incident occurred. McDermott described watching the footage back as “incredibly distressing.” The BBC introduced mandatory chaperones at every rehearsal and added two new welfare producers to the production.
Luba Mushtuk was on the show throughout all of it. There is no complaint on record against her, no investigation linked to her name, and no public incident of any kind.
The BBC’s collective reason for the departures covers all five professionals under one shared cause and draws no distinction between those associated with the controversy and those who were not. Mushtuk falls into the second group.
Carney’s comment on the farewell post described exactly what the BBC had publicly promised to build inside the show for three years. The BBC’s own farewell statement said the same about her. She had been told she was not coming back before either was written.
What Is Luba Mushtuk Doing After Strictly?
She has confirmed she will take part in the Strictly Professionals 2026 tour, which she described as “one last time.” Rehearsals are scheduled alongside Gorka Mรกrquez, Vito Coppola, Neil Jones, Lauren Oakley, Jowita Przystaล, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, and newcomers Julian Caillon and Alexis Warr. Michelle Tsiakkas withdrew from the tour entirely.
In 2022, Mushtuk spoke publicly about acting: “I have a love of acting. It’s something I’m extremely passionate about just lately.” Strictly champion Rose Ayling-Ellis had been supporting her in that direction. Her farewell post mentioned following dreams “beyond the show” without specifying what those are. No project has been announced.
The BBC’s farewell statement described the qualities Mushtuk brought to the show: warmth, professionalism, and care for the celebrities she worked with across a decade. Those same qualities appear in every public commitment the corporation made about what the show needed to become after the worst period in its history. The BBC thanked her for ten years of it on March 27, 2026, and told her she was not coming back.
