John Nellis has made a name for himself interviewing some of the biggest stars in football, but now the spotlight is on him as he joined the cast of Strictly Come Dancing.
The Northern Irish content creator, has taken the dance floor by storm, impressing both the judges and the audience alike, sitting comfortably at third place on the leaderboard with a combined score of 54 over the 2 weeks so far.
He'll have to keep dancing his football boots off as eliminations have started, which saw Chris Appleton become the first celebrity to leave Strictly 2026.
But just who is John Nellis and how will the football fan fare as the competition really amps up? Read on for everything you need to know.
Who is John Nellis?
YouTuber / content creator
John Nellis is one of the UK’s biggest sports content creators, with a combined audience of more than 20 million followers.
His videos have amassed billions of views and featured some of the biggest sporting names, including Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo. And in 2024, he won Sport Creator of the Year at the TikTok Awards UK & Ireland.
In 2022, he quit his job as an air traffic controller at Cork Airport, where he'd worked for eight years. During the pandemic, Nellis had more time to work on his hobby of making videos and he soon took the leap to make it his full-time job. At the time he had 7,431 subscribers and now he has 16 million!
"I went from a big, serious stressful job and then into the dream job, very quickly," he told BBC News NI in 2022. "When no planes were flying I had so much more time to put into editing and thinking of ideas. It just spiralled."
"When I look back, I label myself as delusional. I don't know how any channel with as few subscribers as I had, in their right mind, would quit the job I had," he added.
John Nellis' Strictly journey so far
Foxtrot (7 + 8 + 8 + 8) = 31
Couple's Choice (4 + 5 + 7 + 7 = 23) = 54
What has John Nellis said about Strictly Come Dancing?
"I keep laughing in disbelief," John said of joining Strictly. "I keep realising the magnitude of it and getting a bit nervous. I keep saying to my wife how surreal it all is. I keep kind of going, 'This is mad.' So, nervous but ridiculously excited."
Strictly Come Dancing begins on Saturday 19 September at 7:25pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.
Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.