Ex-Strictly stars have spilled the beans on the show’s “physical” demands, revealing that getting “punched in the face” is part of the gig.
The former fleet-footed faves Brendan Cole, James Jordan, Pasha Kovalev, Vincent Simone, and Ian Waite are set to shimmy back together for a Legends of the dance floor tour. They dropped by ITV’s This Morning to chat about their upcoming moves.
However, hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard couldn’t help but quiz them on the recent drama rocking the BBC dancefloor, following Graziano Di Prima’s exit amid allegations of abusive behaviour behind the scenes claims which Giovanni Pernice, who also left the show, has strongly refuted.
James Jordan weighed in: “I think it’s sad, of course, because it is such a family show. Like we said, we still love the show we still love watching it.”
He added, “These two isolated incidents, apart from that, if you speak to 99% of the people who have done Strictly, they’ve had such an amazing experience, so we’re talking about two incidents over 20 years and it’s such a shame it’s happened at this crucial moment in Strictly history,” reports the Mirror.
(Image: TCB Group)
Pasha then chimed in with his own battle scars, confessing he’d snapped a finger and needed stitches in his chin all in the name of dance. Despite the rough and tumble, the fab five made it clear they won’t be needing any minders for their upcoming tour, despite new safety measures being rolled out on the BBC show.
Brendan has spoken up about the high stakes of rehearsals: “It’s very physical. What the partners go through on Strictly or in a rehearsal room like this, you’ve got to get it. You’ve got to be on it, you’re doing lifts. You’re going to have accidents. We’ve had a punch in the face, we’ve had a broken finger… it’s how it works. But it’s also what makes it so exciting.”
Then Cat probed further, questioning: “But do you think it’s reached a level where it’s too much, there’s too much pressure on the celebrities? Because we’ve seen all these different moves, we’ve seen the lifts… we’re asking for more?”
Considering this, James acknowledged the intensity, confessing: “As teachers and choreographers, we do want the best. We want to win. We do push the celebrities as hard as we can, but it’s an amazing process.”
He then reflected on the unique experience celebs gain from the show, “What a great thing for the celebrities to be able to do, to go on a show and learn a skill that somebody else is teaching them, every week!”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
