Bake Off John turns up heat with sultry rumba
STRICTLY’S male couple get up close and intimate tonight with their version of the sultry Afro-Brazilian rumba.
And John Whaite and Johannes Radebe can’t wait – even if it brings out the haters.
It means the pair will finally be able to drop the “pally”, “laddy” routines and really turn up the heat.
Great British Bake Off winner John said: “From the very first step we’re very intimate. We’ve been very masculine, very laddy…and now it’s time to be romantic.”
There was disappointment last year when Strictly’s first same-sex couple, Nicola Adams and Katya Jones, had to leave before they could rectify criticism that they were dancing less like a couple and more like two “girl pals”.
Now John, 32, and
Johannes, 34, are proud to be finishing what they started.
John said: “The rumba is the most sensual dance, but we’re not going to shy away from that. We’re here to make the point that gay people and same-sex couples should be allowed to dance together.
“I’m a bit nervous… some people have already expressed their distaste for Johannes and me as a partnership, so I’m expecting to get a bit of flak over it. But you know what? We’re over people trying to be hateful and hurtful, because we’ve had it all our lives.”
He added: “Fortunately though, 99.9 per cent of fans have been overwhelmingly positive.”
Johannes has choreographed the routine to Sting’s Shape Of My Heart.
He adds: “We’re definitely not holding back. The minute we do that it’s suggesting there’s something wrong in what we’re doing, and there isn’t.”
This season has been “liberating” for Johannes, who said it is his “best experience”.
He said: “Dancing with John has really allowed me more than anything to be myself, it’s been liberating.”
Chef John, who won Bake Off in 2012, confesses he was initially unsure about being a Strictly history maker.
He explains: “They asked me if I would like to dance with a woman or a man.
“At first I had to think about it, because I grew up being bullied because of my sexuality. Do I want to put myself in a very vulnerable position in front of 10 million people every week?
“But then I just thought, ‘Well, sod it. I haven’t fought for freedom and equality all my life to shy away from it when it all hits the fan.”
Strictly, BBC One, 6.45pm.