Strictly 2017 - Meet the Stars

With the brand new season getting close, here's a rundown of the celebrities that will be strutting their stuff this year in the hope of winning the coveted Crystal Glitterball Trophy in the 15th season of Strictly Come Dancing:

The first celebrity to be announced was singer Mollie King. Mollie is probably best known as being part of the girl group, The Saturdays. The announcement was made during a Radio 1 Breakfast Show with host Nick Grimshaw.

Next to be announced was actor Davood Ghadami, who is best known for starring as Kush Kazemi in Eastenders.

Next , it was announced live during This Morning that television presenter Ruth Langsford would be the third celeb taking part in this years contest. Ruth has appeared on numerous shows, but is probably best known for presenting This Morning and Loose Women.

Gemma Atkinson became the forth celebrity to be announced during a live broadcast on BBC Breakfast on 10th August. Gemma is an actress and ex-glamour model, best known for playing Lisa Hunter on Hollyoakss.

Rev Richard Coles became the fifth celebrity to be announced on August 11th. Richard is best known for having been the multi-instrumentalist who partnered Jimmy Somerville in the band The Communards, who had a successful chart career in the 1980's.

On August 12th, actor Joe McFadden was the sixth celeb to be announced. Joe is best known for his roles in Heartbeat, Casualty and Holby.

Simon Rimmer announced his own appearance next during a live broadcast of his Sunday morning show, Sunday Brunch, which he presents alongside Tim Lovejoy.

Former singer in the boyband JLS, Aston Merrygold became the next celeb to be announced during the BBC Radio 1 Scott Mills afternoon show.

The ninth celeb to be announced was Scottish comedian and television presenter Susan Calman.

On August 18th, during his BBC Radio 2 show, Steve Wright announced the 10th celeb to be taking part would be comedian and television presenter Brian Conley.

Next up, during a live broadcast on Good Morning Britain, presenter Charlotte Hawkins announced she would be the 11th celeb taking part this year.

On the same day, Chizzy Akudolu became celeb number 12 to be announced. Chizzy is best known for playing the part of Mo Effanga in Holby.

The final three celeb contestants were all announced during a live broadcast of The One Show...

First up, Debbie McGee became celeb number 13. Debbie is known known for being the late wife and assistant of magician Paul Daniels.

Celeb 14 was announced shortly after as Team GB Paralympic gold medalist sprint runner Jonnie Peacock.

Then came the final announcement that celeb number 15 would be singer and X-Factor 2008 winner Alexandra Burke.

Here is the full line-up on stage at the red carpet launch party. For those interested, the red carpet event will be available to watch on the BBC iPlayer from 31st August.

The 15th season of Strictly Come Dancing starts on BBC One September 23rd, with the sister show, Strictly Come Dancing - It Takes Two, airing Mon-Fri on BBC Two from September 25th.