One beloved Strictly star has revealed that her dance partner didn’t allow cameras into their rehearsals.
Loyal fans of the BBC show will remember how Angela Rippon stole the hearts of the nation when she competed on the ballroom competition last year with Kai Widdrington. The veteran broadcaster, 89, dazzled viewers with her impressive flexibility and natural rhythm on the famous dancefloor.
But what fans may not know is that her professional dancer actually asked the film crew to leave them while they were training during the show. The Rip Off Britain presenter, who was the eighth contestant to be voted off the show last year, described Kai as a “gentleman” and a “lovely man.”
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Speaking about their impressive routines on the show to the Express, she revealed: “It wasn’t the couple’s choice, it was Kai’s choice,” adding that he pushed her to her limits. The TV star also reflected on her memorable high kick, explaining that Kai assessed her flexibility and made her repeatedly perform the move in front of him.
She continued: “So I did it again and as I kick he caught my foot and he just kept pushing it and it got level to my nose, and he said, ‘that’ll do’. You have camera crews in filming it.
“So when we were rehearsing, you would get to that part of the dance at the end and he wouldn’t do it. He never, ever wanted it filmed.” According to Angela, her dance partner referred to her signature move as their “Easter egg, and that it would be a surprise”.
And it appears as though their strategy paid off, as she said their dress rehearsal performance left the rest of the cast and crew astounded. It comes after the award-winning dancer from Southampton missed out on a spot in the main line-up this year.
(Image: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)
For the 20th anniversary special, fans saw Aljaz Skorjanec and Dianne Buswell returned to the famous ballroom. Kai spoke about his sadness over not being paired up with a celebrity in an exclusive interview with Daily Star.
He told us: “Everyone wants to get a celebrity. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my time this series.
“Two boys couldn’t have one this series and sadly I am one of them. Some of us don’t get partners and that’s the way it is. Let’s see what happens next year. Hopefully I’ll get one then.”
(Image: BBC)
Also missing out on a celebrity partner this year is Carlos Gu, Lauren Oakley, and Katya Jones. The hunk promises it will be TV gold.
He said: “The line-up of celebs this year is amazing. It is going to be a fantastic series, as it always is. We have been filming a lot of the group routines.
“There are some amazing ones. We have worked really hard through the summer to get them ready for the series. One of the ones I feature in is very funny.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
