Dan Walker won't be taking part in the Strictly Come Dancing live arena tour next year despite reaching the quarter final stage.

As initially reported in The Sun, this is the first time in four years that a competitor has made it to the final five in the dancing competition without heading out on the tour afterwards.

Walker and his partner Nadiya Bychkova dropped into the bottom two for the first time on Saturday (December 4) and were voted out by the judges following a dance-off with AJ Odudu.

Usually, seven couples are picked for the tour from the previous year's contest, and they are also usually the seven couples that have gone the furthest.

Walker had received backlash on Twitter for staying in the programme for so long, but speaking on BBC Breakfast yesterday (Monday December 6) he spoke of enjoying his time on the show.

He said: "I told Nadiya I wanted us to enjoy this as much as we could, and it lasted a lot longer than I thought it would.

โ€œWhen you have been through something like that and enjoyed it so much, there is no point being sad that it is over.โ€

The arena tour starts in January 2022 and travels to various cities including Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and London.