After Strictly I’d love to go to a wedding & say: Clear my way to the dance floor
6ft 6in Beeb star sidesteps clumsiness to impress fans
A WEEK before his Strictly debut, one of Dan Walker’s pals got married and the TV host did what he calls his “normal wedding procedure”.
He explains: “I’m like, ‘Come on, let’s all dance’, then I go, ‘OK, I’ll go back to the kids’, or, ‘I’ll look after the handbags’.
“I’d never actually got on a dance floor in my whole life.
“One of the reasons is I feel like I’m too big, like if I started dancing I might elbow somebody in the ribs or smack someone in the face or something.
“What I would love after all this is to be able go to a wedding and shout, ‘Clear the way, I’m coming through!’”
Just days later, the 6ft 6in BBC Breakfast host put his insecurities aside to impress Strictly viewers with his quickstep last Saturday.
And as soon as the dance was over Dan, 44, collapsed on a sofa in the middle of the stage “more out of relief than anything else”.
He says a number of people, assuming he was rubbish, had asked him beforehand whether he could dance – including himself.
Dan adds: “So the relief that I could do it half decently… I saw the red sofa and thought, ‘Oh, I think I’ll have a quick lie down’.
The star puts his new-found confidence down to dance partner Nadiya Bychkova, 32, who is with him in the car as we speak on the phone, en-route to rehearsals for this week’s show.
Dan says: “One of the worries I had was I was too tall and awkward. Nadiya’s been brilliant in saying to me, ‘Be as big as you can be. Let’s use your size rather than it be something to worry about’.
“Having said that, I did elbow her in the teeth this week.”
Nadiya adds: “I always try to look on the positive side, so we’re embracing Dan’s size and working on it.
“When someone’s as tall as him, they need to have more control and work harder but when they dance well it looks absolutely amazing.”
Dan’s transformation from big and clumsy to fast-footed and nimble did not start too well.
Days before Strictly started, he was taken to A&E after running straight into a glass door during training.
He recalls: “I flew back about two metres then landed on the floor.
“I thought I’d knocked my teeth out because there was blood pouring out of my mouth, but I’d actually bit a chunk out of my tongue. The next day I was feeling woozy so went to hospital to have a brain scan. “They found I had mild concussion and I wasn’t allowed to dance for three days. I’ve still got a big lump on my head.”
But devout Christian Dan believes his accident was meant to be, as it made him even closer to Nadiya.
He says: “I always think things happen for a reason. I decided to go to A&E to
get it checked, and this amazing lady said, ‘You’re not going on your own’.
“We hadn’t been revealed so we weren’t meant to be seen together, so she came with me and waited in the car for four hours outside.
“Afterwards, I said to her, ‘That’s it – our friendship’s cemented. Whatever you ask of me, I’ll do’.” It’s certainly an unlikely friendship – Dan, the son of an evangelical Christian minister, prays every day, never swears and refuses to work on Sundays.
Nadiya, on the other hand, is a Slovenian dancer and Playboy model who often posts sizzling snaps on Instagram. But Dan says: “We met each other just three weeks ago but we already know an awful lot about each other. “We talk about everything from faith to flapjacks to foxtrot. Whatever happens with this programme, I hope we’ll be friends for life.” Dan also admits he would never have considered going on Strictly were it not for his wife Sarah and their children Susanna, 14, Jessica, 12, and 10-year-old Joe. He says: “Last Christmas, my kids sat me down and said, ‘There are two programmes we’d love you to do, Saturday Mash-Up! and Strictly’. “I wanted to be part of something they could really get into. “My children are already loving the whole experience. “They’re really caught up in it and loving the fact their friends are too. They never get to see me on BBC Breakfast because we have a ‘no TV before school’ rule, so my programme is banned in our house! “My 14-year-old was in the audience last weekend and she was worried about me embarrassing her.
“I looked up and saw tears coming down her face and she gave me this lovely little proud wave and mouthed, ‘Well done, I love you’.
“I don’t think you can get much better than that – having a daughter who’s proud of her dad.”
Dan started out as a radio commentator before presenting sports on the Beeb’s North West Tonight and going on to host Football Focus.
He has continued to present BBC Breakfast as well as The NFL Show on Fridays, despite his gruelling training schedule. At the moment, he is only getting four hours of sleep a night, but that is not his only gripe.
Dan says: “The fitness part is no problem – it’s using muscles you’ve never used before.
“I discovered I have an underactive backside, so my bottom’s been aching all week.
“Everyone at BBC Breakfast has noticed that my posture’s improved.
“They’ve had to adjust the camera because I sit up higher now.
“I’ve also hired a sauna to try to get rid of my aches and pains.”
Ahead of tonight’s show, Dan says fans can expect something different. He adds: “It’s a very serious and traumatic Paso Doble, so I’m trying to work on my annoyed, furious face.”
Does he think he could go all the way?
Dan says: “I haven’t cleared space for any glitterball. But the best thing that has come out of this programme is meeting Nadiya. So I feel like I’ve already won.”