Shirley Annette Ballas (née Rich, formerly Stopford; born 6 September 1960) is an English dancer and television personality. She specialises in the International Latin division, where she won several championship titles which earned her the nickname "the Queen of Latin". In 2017, Ballas was appointed head judge on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

dancing competition show ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

''.

Life and dancing career

Ballas was born as Shirley Annette Rich on 6 September 1960 and was raised in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the mouth of the River Mersey, on the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic county bou ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

(now Merseyside), England, with brother David and mother Audrey. The children's father left the family when Shirley was 2 years old. She began dancing at age 7, and began performing competitively the following years. In 2018, Ballas discovered, when appearing on '' Who Do You Think You Are?'', that she was descended from an enslaved

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

woman from

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. Her paternal great-grandfather was from

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, South Africa. At the age of 15, Ballas moved to

Shipley, West Yorkshire Shipley is a historic market town and civil parish in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Located on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Shipley is directly north of the city of Bradford. The population of Shipley at ...

to live with the family of new partner, British Ballroom Champion, Nigel Tiffany, which she described as "a difficult time". Two years later, she moved with Tiffany to London, where their partnership ended after dance teacher Nina Hunt convinced her to audition to partner with dancer Sammy Stopford. The two married when Ballas was 18, with the relationship ending five years later. As dance partners, their best result was winning Professional Latin at

Blackpool Dance Festival The 8-day Blackpool Dance Festival is the world's first and most famous annual ballroom dance competition of international significance, held in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England, since 1920. It is also the largest ...

in 1983. In 1985, she married American ballroom dancer Corky Ballas. Together their best results were winning Professional Latin at Blackpool Dance Festival in 1995 and 1996 The pair moved to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

to compete in the US. Their only child, professional ballroom dancer Mark Ballas, was born in 1986. The couple divorced in 2007. Ballas stopped competing in dance competitions in 1996, becoming a dance coach and judge for ballroom and Latin American competitions. In December 2023 Ballas was the guest for BBC Radio 4's ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

'', where her choices included "

Smells Like Teen Spirit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, '' Nevermind'' (1991), released on DGC Records. Having sold over 13 million units worldwide, it i ...

" by

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

, "

Moon River "Moon River" is a song composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'', winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song also won the 19 ...

" by

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

, "Highs and Lows" by Alexander Jean.

Television career

''Dancing with the Stars''

Ballas has appeared on ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'', giving master classes and commentating on the show.

''Strictly Come Dancing''

On 9 May 2017, it was announced that Ballas would be joining the judging panel of ''

'' on

, replacing

Len Goodman Leonard Gordon Goodman (25 April 1944 – 22 April 2023) was an English professional ballroom dancer, dance teacher, and dance competition adjudicator. He appeared as head judge on the UK television programme ''Strictly Come Dancing'' – in w ...

as head judge. She made her first appearance on the panel four months later - at the launch show of series 15 on 9 September that year.

''The Masked Singer UK''

In January 2024, Ballas participated in the fifth series of '' The Masked Singer UK'' as the character "Rat". She was eliminated and unmasked in the third episode.

Advocacy

Ballas' brother David took his own life, aged 44, in 2003. Ballas was "absolutely devastated" and now works with

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

charity the

Campaign Against Living Miserably Campaign Against Living Miserably, or CALM, is a registered charity based in England. CALM runs a free, confidential and anonymous helpline as well as a web chat service, offering help, advice and information to anyone who is struggling or in c ...

(CALM). In August 2023, Ballas completed the zip wire challenge at Zip World at Penrhyn Quarry in

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

, and planned a 700 ft wing walk and 15,000 ft skydive, to raise money for the charity.

Personal life

In November 2024, it was reported that Ballas had parted from her fiancé Danny Taylor, after six years together. Ballas revealed that she had "changed her mind" about marriage after previously going through two divorces. In February 2025, at Liverpool Crown Court, a 37-year-old man pleaded guilty to a charge of

stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitorin ...

Ballas and causing her "serious harm or distress", between August 2017 and November 2023. It was reported that the man's actions had a "substantial adverse effect" on Ballas's day-to-day life.

Filmography

Books

* ''Behind the Sequins: My Life'' (

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidia ...

, October 2020) * ''Murder on the Dance Floor'' ( HQ Books, October 2023)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballas, Shirley 1960 births Living people Entertainers from Wallasey English female dancers British ballroom dancers English expatriates in the United States British dance teachers Ballas family English people of South African descent