Strictly fans ‘in tears’ over tribute to Amy Dowden as she’s forced to miss launch show | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV

Strictly Come Dancing fans were overcome with emotion after Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman paid tribute to Amy Dowden.

During the episode, which aired on Saturday, Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman paid a very touching tribute to Amy, calling her their “Welsh dragon” as she missed “the start of the series”, and wishing her a very speedy recovery in a lovely tribute ahead of one of the group dances.

Tess said: “We are missing one of our Strictly dancers, the gorgeous Amy Dowden is unwell and she can’t be with us at the start of the series. She’s a Welsh Dragon and we know she will be back soon.”

“Amy, from your entire Strictly family we’re sending you all our love and we can’t wait to have you back on the dancefloor,” Claudia remarked.

Tess added: “This one is for you. Our iconic judges are accompanied by our professional dancers.”

The Strictly judges including Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke and Shirley Ballas took to the dancefloor in a heartwarming celebration to Amy.

Following the poignant tribute, emotional viewers flocked to social media. Courtney penned: “On the verge of tears when they mentioned Amy.”

Ryan echoed: “A lovely tribute to Amy Dowden I hope she gets better soon #Strictly.”

Carols shared a tearful emoji along with the caption: “Amy, we love and miss you.”

And Tina said: “Going to miss #AmyDowden on this series of #Strictly. I was diagnosed just after you Amy, I feel like I’m going through #breastcancer with you… you’re my inspiration with your everlasting smile and optimism.”

Amy previously explained that she was feeling “extremely sick” after her fourth round of chemotherapy.

The dancer revealed in May that she had been diagnosed with aggressive stage three breast cancer, and has been forced to pull out of the 2023 series.

She underwent a mastectomy earlier this year but doctors later found more tumours, meaning she needed to have more treatment.

Last month, she revealed that she had suffered a terrifying health scare with sepsis, which she picked up during her first round of chemotherapy.