James Bye: Who is the Strictly Come Dancing 2022 contestant and what is he famous for?

Everything you need to know about the ‘EastEnders’ actor

Actor James Bye is one of the contestants on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.

The rest of the line-up includes TV presenters, athletes, and pop stars.

Bye is best known for his role in EastEnders, in which he has played character Martin Fowler since 2014. He is the third actor to play the role.

Originally born in Basingstoke, he first appeared in The Bill in 2006 and then later in the film Cemetery Junction in 2010 ,before joining the cast of EastEnders.

The 33-year-old is a husband to Victoria Bye and father to their three boys Edward, Louis and Hugo.

He is competing on Strictly Come Dancing with Amy Dowden.

Speaking about why he joined Strictly, Bye said: “I wanted to use this opportunity to show my kids that with a bit of hard work and perseverance you can achieve anything. So I guess that’s a sort of a glorified parenting technique, I’m using Strictly to parent my children.

Bye and partner Amy Dowden (BBC/Guy Levy)

“Since I’ve mentioned that daddy’s going to be a dancer, there’s been a lot more interest now watching daddy dance around the kitchen while making dinner. My other reason is that my in-laws are huge fans, they’ll be wanting tickets and maybe even the spray tan.”

On week four, Bye placed sixth on the leaderboard with 32 points for his Quickstep to “Don’t Get Me Wrong” by The Pretenders. He avoided the dance off.

Week five saw Bye foxtrot to “Julia’s Theme” from EastEnders, avoiding the dance off again with 26 points.

For the Halloween Week episode, Bye and Dowden danced the Charleston to “Bumble Bee” by LaVern Baker. The duo were given a score of 27 by the judges. However, they ended up in the dance off, facing Fleur East and Vito Coppola.

Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday 29 October at 6.50pm on BBC One.