Strictly Come Dancing champion Carlos Gu may currently be trying to disappear from view alongside Amy Dowden on Celebrity Hunted, but the professional dancer has previously spoken candidly about a very different challenge: growing up gay in China.
Gu and fellow Strictly professional Dowden are among the celebrity fugitives taking part in the latest series of Channel 4’s Celebrity Hunted, which raises money for Stand Up To Cancer.
The pair must spend 14 days attempting to evade a team of former policing, military and intelligence professionals using surveillance technology and other investigative techniques to track them down.
It is another high-profile challenge for Gu, who joined Strictly Come Dancing as a professional dancer in 2022 and reached a major career milestone last year when he and former England footballer Karen Carney won the 2025 series and lifted the Glitterball Trophy.
Away from the ballroom, however, Gu has increasingly used his platform to discuss his sexuality and the freedom he found after moving from China to the United Kingdom.
‘I am finding my true self’
Gu spoke publicly about being gay during an appearance on ITV’s Lorraine in 2024, reflecting on how moving to Britain had allowed him to live more openly.
“Myself, I moved to this country. I had a different life. I am finding my true self in this country,” he said.
“Being gay in China, it’s really hard to talk about it. You can’t tell a word in telly, public, no word.”
Gu also discussed coming out to his mother, who raised him as a single parent.
While he acknowledged that accepting his sexuality was initially difficult for her, he said she ultimately supported his decision to move overseas and pursue the opportunity to join Strictly.
“I think, because I came out to my mum… she’s a single mum who raised me, it’s hard for her,” he said. “But I’m so lucky to have her, she’s so open. The time when I told her I want to move to UK and I want to get this job on Strictly, she actually supported me 100% because she knew I would be happier there.”
Gu has since spoken further about his mother’s concerns, telling Attitude earlier this year that she had worried his visibility could place him at risk.
“She didn’t want me to get too much attention in case there was any danger for me,” he said. “But she’s happy.”
LGBTQ+ life in China
Same-sex sexual activity has not been criminalised in China since 1997, but the country does not recognise same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ people do not have comprehensive nationwide anti-discrimination protections.
Legal recognition of same-sex relationships remains extremely limited, while LGBTQ+ organisations, events and public expression have faced increasing censorship and restrictions in recent years. Human Rights Watch reported in June 2026 that LGBTQ+ social-media accounts, films and Pride-related events had faced renewed censorship, while Outright International says advocacy and public discussion have become increasingly difficult.
That environment gives additional context to Gu’s comments about finding greater freedom to express himself after relocating to Britain.
His visibility on one of the UK’s biggest television programmes has since given him an opportunity to offer the representation he says he did not have growing up.
Gu wants to dance with a man on Strictly
After making history with Carney in 2025, Gu has already identified another Strictly milestone he would like to achieve.
Speaking to Attitude in April, he said he would welcome being partnered with a male celebrity, following previous same-sex pairings including John Whaite and Johannes Radebe, and Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin.
For Gu, such a partnership would be about more than creating memorable choreography.
“Just for a little Asian boy at home, or for anyone watching, to see two men dance – it’s sexy,” he said.
He said the visibility could be particularly meaningful for young LGBTQ+ Asian viewers who may still be trying to understand their identities or wondering whether there is space for them in mainstream entertainment.
Gu’s willingness to experiment with gender presentation has also extended beyond the Strictly ballroom.
In July, he revealed a dramatic drag-inspired transformation for Asian Pride UK, appearing in full glamour with an enormous beehive hairstyle, bold makeup and a plunging black outfit.
From hiding to being hunted
There is something fitting about Gu now appearing on a programme built around the challenge of disappearing.
On Celebrity Hunted, hiding is a game.
For much of his earlier life, however, Gu has described learning that parts of himself were considerably harder to express publicly.
Since moving to the UK and joining Strictly, that has changed dramatically.
He is now a Glitterball-winning professional dancer, an openly gay Asian man on prime-time television and a performer actively calling for more same-sex representation in the ballroom.
And while Celebrity Hunted requires him and Dowden to spend two weeks trying not to be seen, the larger trajectory of Gu’s career has been moving in precisely the opposite direction.
