Krishnan Guru-Murthy becomes fourth celebrity to join Strictly Come Dancing 2023

Krishnan Guru-Murthy has been announced as the fourth celebrity to join the 2023 Strictly Come Dancing line-up.

The journalist is a main presenter on Channel 4 News and has fronted worldwide events including the Omagh bombing of 1998, 9/11 and the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

News that Guru-Murthy, 53, will star in the 21st series of the BBC One show was announced by Claudia Winkleman on BBC Radio 2.

Guru-Murthy said he chose to do the show “for the fun. I love my job. It’s very, very privileged, I go to amazing places. I talk to amazing people, but it’s incredibly serious”.

He added: “It’s quite stressful. It can be quite difficult and sort of the idea of being able to have pure intravenous joy, because I’m going to be doing the news at the same time, is just irresistible.”

He said: “I told my wife first obviously and I sort of said ‘what do you think? Do you think I should do it?’ and she was like ‘yes definitely do it’, which is funny because we’ve talked about it in the past and we were all like ‘no never’, but something changed this year.

“I think we all just kind of thought, now’s the time. Just do it.

“And I have an 18-year-old daughter who thought it was a brilliant idea and I have a 16-year-old son, who I’m really, really sorry I just have to apologise to him, but yeah he’s appalled.”

Guru-Murthy’s TV career began at the age of 18 when he presented youth TV for the BBC.

The journalist fronts the Channel 4 News podcast Ways To Change The World and has interviewed celebrities that include musician Nick Cave and record producer Rick Rubin.

He has also reported for the foreign affairs series Unreported World, about the lives of people who live in some of the fastest-changing areas of the planet.

The 21st series of Strictly Come Dancing will be judged by Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse.

On Friday, broadcaster Angela Rippon, actress Amanda Abbington and Bad Education star Layton Williams were the first celebrities to be announced for the new series, on BBC One’s The One Show.

In 2022, the competition was won by British wildlife presenter Hamza Yassin and professional Strictly dancer Jowita Przystal.