Strictly Come Dancing add ninth celebrity to 2014 line up with Steve Backshall

Steve Backshall is the latest celebrity to be confirmed for Strictly Come Dancing 2014.

The news was broken earlier today on the Bank Holiday Monday edition of BBC Breakfast on BBC One. Steve is a BAFTA award winning British naturalist, author and television presenter, best known for CBBC’s popular flagship wildlife programme, Deadly 60, in which he tracks down 60 of the world’s deadliest animals.

Throughout his career, Steve has undertaken death-defying confrontations with some of nature’s fiercest creatures; he’s been diving with great white sharks, caught a king cobra, handled a red back spider and been bitten by crocodiles.

Steve also presents the spin off series, Deadly Pole to Pole, in which he explores some of the most extreme environments our planet has to offer.

My day job filming wildlife in jungles and swamps is nothing like as scary as what is ahead. I think Strictly Come Dancing is going to be my wildest challenge by far!” – Steve Backshall.

Steve joins Frankie Bridge, Judy Murray, Alison Hammond, Thom Evans, Simon Webbe, Mark Wright, Sunetra Sarker and Jake Wood in this year’s battle for the ballroom. Six more celebrities are still to be confirmed.