Michelle Visage forced to miss Strictly Come Dancing launch

Michelle Visage was forced to miss last night’s Strictly Come Dancing 2019 launch.

The rest of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing celebrities were on the red carpet this week as they recorded the opening of this year’s launch show.

However Drag Race star Michelle Visage had to miss the event due to a schedule clash.

A source shared with The Sun newspaper: “Michelle really wanted to make it to the launch, but sadly a clash of filming commitments meant she is still back in America and couldn’t get back to the UK in time. She’ll be missed.”

Michelle is expected to join the celebs in rehearsals for the first group dance later this week, which will be recorded at the end of the month.

The pre-recorded Strictly launch episode will air on Saturday, September 7 ahead of the live shows starting on Saturday, September 21.

Joining Michelle on this year’s Strictly line up are former England footballer David James, stand up comedian Chris Ramsey and EastEnders star Emma Barton.

They’re joined by social media star and YouTuber Saffron Barker, Coronation Street actress Catherine Tyldesley, BBC Breakfast’s sports presenter Mike Bushell and CBBC presenter Karim Zeroual.

Also on the Strictly line up are TV legend Anneka Rice, Viscountess Emma Weymouth, RuPaul Drag Race’s Michelle Visage, Paralympic champion Will Bayley, and footballer and presenter Alex Scott.

Completing the line up are Made In Chelsea’s Jamie Laing, Radio 1 DJ Dev Griffin and gold medal winning Olympian James Cracknell.

The launch will see the celebrities paired up with their pro for the series before they hit the training room for three weeks of intensive rehearsals ahead of the first live show at the end of next month.

Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly will host as always with returning judges Shirley Ballas, Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood.

Joining them for her first series will be Strictly’s new judge Motsi Mabuse, who replaces Darcey Bussell on the panel.

The Strictly Come Dancing 2019 pros were announced earlier this year, seeing the departure of Pasha Kovalev and introducing new dancer Nancy Xu joins the line up.

Meanwhile, the Strictly launch will also see a special music performance from Kylie Minogue.