Strictly Come Dancing: Sheffield star Dan Walker will not be taking part in 2022 Strictly live tour

Dan is the first contestant to have made it through to the quarter finals of the show without going out on the tour afterwards, according to The Sun.

It has not yet been confirmed why he has chosen not to take part, but his working commitments presenting BBC Breakfast mean he has to be in Salford multiple times a week.

Dan and his professional partner Nadiya Bychkova were sent home on Sunday after failing to impress the judges and the public with their tango to Santa Maria by Gotan Project.

Following the dance-off against AJ Odudu and her partner Kai Widdrington, all four judges chose to save the latter.

In his exit speech, Dan said: “The last 11 weeks have been absolutely amazing, I genuinely have loved every second of it. If I go back to the first day when we were asked to dance in front of some glitter balls, and at that point if there had been a fire exit, I felt that uncomfortable I’d have just walked away.

"But this amazing woman sort of grabbed me by the hand and brought me out on the dancefloor and I’m not a dancer but she showed me that I can dance, and that for me has been an absolutely incredible experience and I have really loved it.”

The contestants chosen to take part in the Strictly live tour are usually the seven couples who have gone the furthest in the competition, but Dan is reported to have turned down the opportunity.

Dan Walker cricism on Strictly

Although Dan and Nadiya made it through to the quarter finals, they faced some harsh backlash from viewers after continually receiving low scores for their dancing.

Some viewers even made unfounded accusations that the show had been fixed to allow the BBC Breakfast presenter to stay in the competiton.

But Dan laughed off the comments from online trolls, by sharing some of the messages he had received and adding: “….to the few who say… ‘just leave’, ‘aren’t you ashamed?’, ‘you’re a disgrace’, ‘it’s a fix’ (which I don’t get) or ‘who is voting for them?’, IT’S A TV SHOW!”

When is the Strictly Come Dancing tour coming to Sheffield?

The 2022 live tour will be visiting numerous UK cities in 2022, including London, Birmingham and Newcastle.

It kicks off in January before heading to Sheffield Utilita Arena for two nights, on Tuesday, February 1 and Wednesday, February 2.

What judges will be on the Strictly Come Dancing tour?

The stars taking part in the live tour have not yet been officially announced, but Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli have all been confirmed as the judges for the tour.

Tonioli pulled out of the current series of the BBC programme due to uncertainty around Covid travel restrictions between the UK and the US.

He is currently based in the US, where he is also a judge on American series Dancing With The Stars.

However, Tonioli will be on the panel for the live shows in Sheffield in February.