AN ANDOVER celebrity sparkled as she hit the dance floor for the first time on primetime television.

Glamour returned to our screens as the new series of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing kicked off on Saturday, seeing 15 celebrities partner up with professional dancers, eager to show off their moves.

Hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman welcomed this year's star-studded line up to the 16th series of the show, which included Andover’s very own Katie Piper.

The television presenter, author and acid attack survivor shared her nerves about competing in the glitzy contest.

In her introduction video she opened up about the attack at 24-years-old when her ex Danny Lynch paid Stefan Sylvestre to throw sulphuric acid in her face on the street.

The attack left her with permanent scarring to her face, neck, chest arms and hands, and partially blinded. She has since had over 300 surgeries.

She said: “I was quite badly burnt when I was younger. I had acid thrown in my face and I had a very long recovery. But I believe so strongly there was life after burns, there's life after disfigurement.

“When I was younger I was really confident and I used to go out with friends to nightclubs and there's a part of me inside that would like to get a little bit of that back.

"I’m looking forward to the public seeing more of the “at home Katie” and the Katie that my kids and husband know.

"People at home are probably thinking ‘oh my god, she's having a mid-life crisis’.

"I got the loveliest text from my burn surgeon saying: 'Wow my patient who was once learning to walk again is now dancing'. It was a place I never thought I’d be. I’m gonna give it my all."

During the show Katie was ecstatic to find out her partner for the season would be Gorka Marquez, who finished joint runner-up in 2017 with X Factor winner Alexandra Burke.

She said speaking to Claudia and Gorka: “I'm really happy. He will more than do. He’s fantastic and we have got great chemistry and you're so patient and you've got your work cut out with me.

“[It is] such a sense of relief because I wanted someone determined and prepared to work hard and that's Gorka so I feel really lucky to have got him.”

The burns charity founder’s husband Richard was in the audience showing his support and Katie admitted he was the better dancer of the pair, adding: “We were practicing in the kitchen together last night, and basically he was like I think you're just going to have to fake it babe.”

The hard work now begins for Katie and Gorka who are hitting the practice rooms together in anticipation for the first live show in two weeks time, on Saturday, September 22.