Who is Emma Barton? Meet the Strictly Come Dancing 2019 contestant and actress

It’s that time of year again – Strictly Come Dancing’s celebrity cast for the coming series is being announced.

Find out more about one of the Glitterball Trophy contenders, Emma Barton.

[Strictly Come Dancing: All the rumoured and confirmed contestants]

Revealed as a Strictly contestant: Emma was the third contestant of the 2019 series to be revealed when she appeared on The One Show on July 31.

Age: 42

Occupation: Actress

[Read more: All you need to know about Strictly 2019]

Best known for: You’ll probably know Emma from her much less glamorous day job, playing EastEnders’ Minute Mart shop assistant Honey Mitchell.

Honey’s storylines have included her ill-fated marriage to Billy, and now she’s in a relationship with Adam but becoming increasingly suspicious over his closeness to Habiba.

When she isn’t serving Albert Square, Emma can be found treading the boards of some of the West End’s finest theatres.

Her past productions have included Chicago, Grease, and One Man, Two Guvnors.

Emma also does lots of charity work as patron of the Down’s Syndrome Association and Portsmouth Down’s Syndrome Association, and ran the London Marathon this year for Barbara Windsor’s Dementia Revolution team.

She said: “As possibly one of the biggest Strictly fans on the planet, I still can’t believe this is happening. I’m very much a dance around your handbag kinda girl, but now I've been given this wonderful opportunity to learn all the different styles of dancing from the very best in the business.

“So, I’m whipping off Honey's Minute Mart tabard and diving right in to all the glitter and sparkle. From Albert Square to the Strictly dance floor - I just can’t wait!”

[Read more: Who are the Strictly 2019 pro dancers?]

Strictly partner: Anton Du Beke

Instagram: @TheEmmaBarton

Memorable moments: Emma was inadvertently part of many memorable moments this series thanks to being partnered with the larger-than-life Anton du Beke.

He fell out with Shirley Ballas over their Rumba, which Shirley absolutely slated despite the pair having taken their inspiration from old videos of her, as Anton drily commented: "That's the last time we YouTube Shirley."

During their critique of an Austin Powers-themed dance, viewers and judges collapsed in laughter as Craig Revel Horwood told Anton he was distracted by the fake teeth - only to be told that they were in fact the dancer's real gnashers.

However, Emma provided some much nicer memorable moments for Anton, helping him achieve his first ever scores of 10 points and taking him to his second ever final in his time on the show which has included all 17 series so far.

Placed: Emma and Anton were runners-up in the grand final alongside Karim Zeroual and Amy Dowden. They were beaten by Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse.

Meet the Strictly 2019 celebrity lineup

Who is the early Strictly Come Dancing favourite with the bookmakers? There are some surprising names with short odds in the latest Strictly betting.

Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One for series 17 on September 21 at 7pm.

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