Actor Jamie Borthwick will not be returning to EastEnders

EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick will not be returning to the soap after nearly two decades on the show, BBC Studios have confirmed.

The 31-year-old actor, who is best known for playing Jay Brown on the BBC show, competed in Strictly Come Dancing 2024 but was suspended by the broadcaster in June after he allegedly used a disabled slur on the Strictly set.

A video emerged of the actor using the term to describe the people of Blackpool, the town where the show was being filmed, The Sun on Sunday first reported.

It was said that Borthwick made the offensive remark on a phone video while the Strictly cast were at Blackpool Tower Ballroom last November.

It was confirmed on Saturday that the actor, who first joined the series in 2006, will not return to the soap.

A BBC Studios spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Jamie Borthwick will not be returning to EastEnders.

“We do not comment on individual matters.”

Borthwick won the best actor gong at the Inside Soap Awards in 2023 with the show also being recognised with the best storyline for Loving And Losing Lola, about character Lola Pearce-Brown’s brain tumour diagnosis.

As part of the storyline, Borthwick, who played Lola’s husband, Jay, and Emma Barton, as Honey Mitchell, ran the London Marathon in character in honour of Lola after her death.

The actor also won the 2023 Strictly Christmas special with Nancy Xu.

This comes after Welsh opera singer and former BBC Radio Wales presenter, Wynne Evans, 53, was dropped by the BBC following an apology saying that he used “inappropriate language” during the launch of the Strictly Come Dancing tour.

The singer, who performed in the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Of The Opera and also won 2023’s Celebrity MasterChef, told The Sun on Sunday that the Strictly comment was not sexual or directed at one of the female cast but was a nickname for fellow contestant Borthwick.