Brian Fortuna has been left fuming, after thieves stole a wardrobe full of his dancing costumes.

Burglars broke into his London home last weekend and stole £10,000 worth of goods. However, Brian wasn’t worried about his missing laptop and hi-fi, he was more concerned that the louts had made off with all of the costumes he wore during his time on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

A pal told The Sun: “Brian is livid. He can’t believe someone would steal his beloved dancing gear.

“A lot has huge sentimental value, which no insurance claim will bring back. The thieves must have known whose home it was – they probably took the clobber to sell as souvenirs.

“Brian is keeping an eye on things like eBay to see if any of his stuff appears, but he’s not holding out much hope.”

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Brian Fortuna has decided to leave BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, after he was offered a reduced role on the new series of the show.

BBC revealed plans of it’s new format yesterday and detailed how some of it’s regulars such as Brian and Matthew Cutler, would not be partnering celebrities this year, but would instead be offered the chance to perform weekly as part of the professional dance troupe.

Brian, who partnered his now girlfriend Ali Bastian on last year’s series of the show, has turned down their offer and now plans to concentrate on stage show Burn The Floor – in which he currently stars alongside former Bill actress Ali.

Mr Fortuna said: ‘I really enjoyed working on Strictly over the years – loved the fans and loved all the people I got work with – but there are changes planned for the next season so I’ve decided not to return to the show.

‘Both Ali and I are looking forward to seeing all our fans at the Shaftesbury Theatre.’

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Strictly Come Dancing professional Brian Fortuna is reportedly worried that he won’t be asked to return to the show later this year.

Brian’s girlfriend Ali Bastian has revealed that all the dancers are concerned about the planned shakeup of the show and worried that they won’t have a role on the new revamped version.

She told The Sun:

“He’s really anxious to hear about the next series – they all are. They won’t know until later in the summer.”

American Brian, 29, has admitted that he wants to return to the show’s “family”.

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The stars of Strictly Come Dancing are set to take part in a glitzy and ground-breaking new series for BBC Three that will see them unite wheelchair users and celebrities in a dance competition with a difference.

Wheelchair Dance Sport is something many British people have never heard of, although it originated in this country. Dancing On Wheels hopes to change that and put the sport back on the UK map!

The lead choreographer, coach and expert on the show is Brian Fortuna, a professional ballroom dancer and semi finalist in this year’s Strictly. He has been teaching wheelchair dancing for the past eight years and will be putting the couples through their paces with help from his professional dance partner Kristina Rihanoff, who danced with Joe Calzaghe in this year’s competition.

Their challenge is to produce a pair of dancers good enough to represent the UK at the European Wheelchair Dance Sport Championships in Tel Aviv – in just nine weeks.

After an intensive five weeks of training, the couples will perform weekly before a panel of judges: presenter and Paralympian Ade Adepitan and Strictly’s professional dancers – James Jordan, and his wife and reigning Strictly champion, Ola Jordan. They will decide each week which pairs stay in the competition and, ultimately, who will be the couple selected to represent Britain in the European Championships.

The celebrities taking part are singer Heather Small, gold medallist swimmer Mark Foster, actress Michelle Gayle, actor Kevin Sacre, rugby legend Martin Offiah and presenter Caroline Flack. They will partner wheelchair users from around the country. And none have ever attempted wheelchair dancing before.

The wheelchair users are: Simone, a 22-year-old Cambridge graduate; Diana, a 49-year-old magazine editor and mother; 27-year-old Carolyne, who enjoys nothing more than a night out; James, a 31-year-old whose impressive acrobatic ability puts most able-bodied people to shame; Paul, a 24-year-old festival-goer who is looking forward to Glastonbury this summer; and 24-year-old Harry, who recently got married to a girl he met while travelling in Thailand.

They will all be learning from scratch the art of Wheelchair Dance Sport, a popular international sport where at least one dancer is a wheelchair user. It is practised widely by athletes in 22 countries, with competitions and championships held across the world.

In Dancing On Wheels the couples will compete in the “combi” event where a standing able-bodied dancer partners a wheelchair user. Through the competition they must learn all the dances, which include the cha-cha, paso doble, waltz, tango and rhumba. The winning couple will then represent the UK at the Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Israel.

Brian Fortuna says: “Dancing On Wheels was the most challenging and rewarding project that I have ever worked on. It touched the lives of everyone involved and I hope that the show will prove to the public that physical disabilities are only as limiting as you let them be.

“Wheelchair Dance Sport is one of the only activities that brings together the disabled and able-bodied worlds. The level of dancing achieved by the couples far surpassed my expectations.”

Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC Three, says: “This is a really important project for BBC Three, and underlines our commitment to covering disability in a mainstream way following the success of Britain’s Missing Top Model last year. The series will be surprising, fun and glamorous.”

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Strictly Come Dancing bosses are said to be in a panic after Ali Bastian was struck down by a virus.

Ali’s dance partner, Brian Fortuna was ill first and passed the virus on. Staff are said to be worried that the pair are suffering from swine flu.

One pal told The Sun: “We were petrified Ali had caught swine flu, but she has been downplaying it. She made it to her rehearsal but she fears it getting worse.

“She is due to perform the American smooth with her very own smooth American, Brian, and she really wants to put in a good show.”

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Strictly Come Dancing contestant Ali Bastian has admitted that she does have feelings for her dance partner, Brian Fortuna.

Since the pair were first snapped together, there have been persistent rumours that a romance is on the cards. Ali added fuel to the fire yesterday, when she told The Sun:

“I think he is lovely. I think because we are working so closely together, you do get interested. You spend so much time together and I really am enjoying the moment. I feel great.

“I am completely inspired by him. He is an incredible dancer. I do have a big weakness for men who can dance and I have never met anyone who can dance quite so well as Brian. I am feeling really happy right now and I am so glad to have him as my partner.

“Straight away, we hit it off. He has got the same humour as me and we laugh a lot.”

A show insider added: “There is a mutual attraction between Ali and Brian – they look great together.”

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Strictly Come Dancing professional Brian Fortuna has admitted that he wants to date his dance partner Ali Bastian.

The vertically challenged dancer told The Sun “The truth is I’ve been asking Ali out for two or three weeks.

“She turns me down every time but maybe one day she’ll accept it. Who knows?”

It looks like she may just do that. When reporters asked her about the chance of a romance she replied:

“It’s early days.

“We only met each other a few weeks ago.

“We get on really, really well. I feel lucky to have Brian as a partner.

“We have the best time.

“He is training me and pushing me hard, which I’m really glad about, but at the same time we manage to have a laugh.”

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At the start of this years series of Strictly Come Dancing, if you had asked me who Lisa Snowdon would have got it on with I would have put money on it being Brendan Cole. However The Sun has reported that Lisa was spotted snogging the face off pint sized American dance expert Brian Fortuna, at Mark Fosters leaving party in a London club.

A source said: “Brian says he loves Britain and wants to meet a British girl.

“Everyone was talking about their kiss a few weeks ago. All the dancers were tanked up on vodka and having a great laugh.

“Brian’s made it no secret that he fancies Lisa. He was in the studio on Saturday night cheering for her.

“We’re not so sure that Lisa has quite the same feelings for him, though. But it’s always nice to have a little flirting on set.”

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