Lacey Turner has officially started her journey on the popular British dance competition Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with professional dancer Vito Coppola. The 2026 season began with Lacey joining the competition, and her former EastEnders co-star James Bye took to Instagram to express his pride and support for her new endeavor. In his post, James shared a side-by-side image of Lacey in a sparkly orange dress and himself, along with a photo of Vito. He wrote, "Properly proud of you as you start your Strictly journey. I know you’re going to be brilliant — mainly because you’ll have everyone laughing, keeping everyone’s spirits up and, obviously, making sure every surface in Elstree has been wiped within an inch of its life." Elstree is a well-known television studio in England where many soap operas, including EastEnders, are filmed. James continued, "I’ll be shouting at the telly every Saturday like I know what I’m talking about, despite the small matter of me being voted off when I did it. So probably best you don’t take any advice from me. We’ve shared a fair few adventures over the years and I couldn’t be happier watching you take this one on. Go smash it, Lace. We’ll be cheering you on every Saturday. So proud of you, you little legend." Lacey responded with a simple "Love you mate," while other EastEnders cast members, including Louisa Lytton, Clair Norris, and James Farrar, also left supportive comments. Fans of the show are already predicting that Lacey and Vito could be frontrunners for the series, with social media posts highlighting their potential as a winning pair. Lacey previously expressed her excitement and nerves about joining Strictly, saying she plans to create a character to help her perform on the dancefloor. She also mentioned that she decided to take on the challenge now that she is not working on EastEnders and is unsure if she is physically or mentally fit enough to manage both jobs and her household with three children. In a separate section of the article, the relationship between Martin Fowler and Stacey Slater on EastEnders was discussed. After a tumultuous journey, including a postpartum psychosis storyline and a fractured marriage, Martin and Stacey eventually tied the knot. However, Martin later died in EastEnders' 40th anniversary episodes, leaving Stacey to contemplate her own exit from Walford. It is rumored that Stacey may return to the show sooner than expected.