BBC Strictly Come Dancing Tayce's famous dad and being her 'biggest supporter'

Strictly Come Dancing's Christmas special is back for another year on BBC, just weeks after viewers waved goodbye to series 22 which saw comedian Chris McCausland and professional partner Dianne Buswell lift the Glitterball trophy.

One of the six celebrities to be taking part in this festive dancing extravaganza is drag artist, model, and presenter Tayce. The Welsh drag queen was a finalist on the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, who tied as runner-up with Bimini Bon Boulash and lost to winner Lawrence Chaney.

Tayce is making history as she will be the first drag artist to appear on Strictly. Speaking ahead of the show the star admitted: "It's an incredible honour... I hope I do all of my Drag Race and Welsh fans proud!", before adding: "Sign me up for all the glitz, glam and discoballs."

After becoming a professional drag artist in 2017, Tayce became memorable for her lip-syncing skills with her becoming the first ever contestant on Drag Race UK to survive four lip-sync battles, winning three of them. She was also dubbed the 'Naomi Campbell of Drag'. While she's taking on a new challenge by dancing on Strictly, she promised: "I cannot wait to sleigh on the Strictly Ballroom floor. My partner and I are going to dance for our lives!"

The star has announced she's grateful for the opportunity to be part of "this amazing and highly popular show" as she's "pushing the envelope and breaking boundaries." Tayce also revealed that the response from fans of the show "has been overwhelmingly positive", while also admitting: "there's been some negativity from trolls, but that's nothing I can't handle."

Fans of the show might be surprised to find out that Tayce's father Roger Radix was a bass guitarist for pop-duo Wham!, before he was replaced by Deon Estus. The finalist of Drag Race UK said: "He's always been one of my biggest supporters... I was always prancing around in wigs, they [parents] fully let me go and just let me by myself, and I've always been so blessed and privileged."

The 30-year-old will be partnered with Kai Widdrington on the show who wasn't picked as a professional partner on the latest series of Strictly, but he was last partnered with award-winning broadcaster Angela Rippon in 2023 and the pair made it all the way to Blackpool before leaving the show.

Speaking about the decision made for him to not be partnered in the last series, the dancer commented: "Everyone wants to get a celebrity. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my time this series... Let’s see what happens next year. Hopefully, I’ll get one then."

Ahead of the festive show, Tayce has called Kai an "amazing and attentive teacher", adding: "We also get on extremely well which is a bonus and adds to such great connection when dancing together."

After BBC announced the pair will be dancing together by posting on the Strictly Instagram, Kai penned: "NO ONE is ready for this" as well as this year's finalist Tasha Ghouri who added: "Absolute slay."

Known for her sense of style thanks to Drag Race, Tayce detailed: "I'm going to be collaborating heavily on my look, I'm a perfectionist and it needs to look perfect." The star then added that if there were to be a best dresser contest: "I intend to SLEIGH it."

Although actor Layton Williams performed in drag as Betty Rizzo from the musical Grease in Strictly's 2023 series, Tayce hopes that she "will pave the way to more drag icons partaking in the show."

Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special will air at 3:55pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day.