YouTube and TikTok teen sensation JoJo Siwa will be the first person in Dancing With The Stars history to be part of a same-sex partnership – a year after it happened on Strictly.

Siwa, 18, was revealed as one of the first contestants for the show’s 30th season, and will find out who she is paired with when it launches later next month.

Also taking part in the US version of Strictly Come Dancing this year is Olympic gold medallist Suni Lee, who competed for Team USA in gymnastics in Tokyo.

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Siwa’s same-sex partnership comes a year after it happened in the UK, with boxer Nicola Adams dancing with Katya Jones in a first for Strictly.

This year, former Great British Bake Off winner John Whaite will become the first man to join a same-sex partnership on the show.

Former Dance Moms star Siwa, who came out as gay earlier in the year, told USA Today: “I have a girlfriend who is the love of my life and who is everything to me.

“My journey of coming out and having a girlfriend has inspired so many people around the world.

“I thought that if I chose to dance with a girl on this show, it would break the stereotypical thing. It would be new, different and change for the better.”

She added: “There’s going to be people who don’t like it, who think dancing on the show with another girl is wrong or weird. I don’t need those people in my life.

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“If it’s wrong or weird to you, that’s OK, because there’s a billion other people who don’t think it’s wrong or weird.

“Partnering with another girl will give other people around the world more courage to say, ‘It’s OK that I love somebody of the same sex.'”

Siwa has tens of millions of followers on social media, is known for her colourful, positive style and her large hair bows, called Jojo Bows.

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