Strictly pro Neil Jones pokes fun at his demotion by telling fans he’s joined Dave Archer’s band to play the drums
STRICTLY Come Dancing's Neil Jones took on some extra duties in 2020's premiere episode after not getting a celebrity pairing.
The 38-year-old is back as one of the professional dancers on the BBC series but missed out on being paired up with a celebrity due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That didn't seem to bother the ginger dancer who decided to try his skills at drumming and joined Dave Archer's house band.
He poked fun at his demotion on Instagram telling his 225,000 followers he hoped they liked his playing.
Wearing a 1920s themed shirt, tie and suspenders, Neil posed behind the drum kit with a wry smile.
"What an absolute fantastic @bbcstrictly launch show," Neil captioned the photo.
"I hope you enjoyed my drumming 😜 I was practicing during lockdown. I loved every moment and I can’t wait for you to see the rest of the group numbers.
"Which couple are you excited about? Also I want to thank you all for your lovely messages."
Along with pros Nadiya Bychkova, Graziano di Prima and Nancy Xu, Meil won't be getting a celebrity partne on this year's show.
The reduced line-up due to the coronavirus pandemic has seen more pros than usual cut from the thick of the action.
Twelve pairings will take to the dancefloor this year instead of the usual 15, and even though AJ Pritchard and Kevin Clifton quit ahead of the series, there are still not enough celebs to go around.
Strictly Executive Producer Sarah James confirmed: "We have four professional dancers who won't be partnering celebrities this year - they are Nadiya Bychkova, Neil Jones, Graziano di Prima and Nancy Xu."
She also outlined how the new Covid regulations would impact the show.
"The way we're doing that is by doing two different things - we're using close contact cohort, which is an industry workplace guideline, and also bubbles," explained Sarah.
"Close contact cohorts apply to people who need to work more closely together and break social distancing in order to do their job.
"To be in a CCC you have to be with just one person and you are regularly tested to be in a CCC.
"On top of that we are also asking our celebrities and dancers to be part of an exclusive support bubble, which means that one half of the party has to live alone. So either the dancer or the celebrity will be living alone in order to form the exclusive support bubble."
But Neil managed to drown his sorrows after missing out on a celeb partner by splashing out a whopping £10,000 on a new motorbike.
The Indian Motorcycle website lists Neil's new model at a cool starting price on £10,250.
Meanwhile, Neil may have also splashed out on his new toy to take his mind off his love woes.
Yesterday he was spotted out with his girlfriend Luisa Eusse for the first time since since she cheated on him.
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The Sun exclusively reported last week that heavily tattooed Colombian Luisa, 23, did the dirty on him days after he joined the Strictly bubble — by romping with a female bisexual Spanish beauty in his bed.
But it seems the new couple have kissed and made up after he helped his girlfriend sign up for college so she can stay in the UK.
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He hooked up with Luisa after splitting from fellow Strictly pro Katya Jones, 31 — who humiliated him by publicly snogging love-rat comic Seann Walsh in 2018.
We also revealed last month that Luisa was reported as an illegal immigrant by her jilted ex.