Saffron: ‘It’s hard to dirty dance with your mum!’
The Youtube star on the perils of reality TV
Admit it: have you ever carried a watermelon and thought, “God, I wish Patrick Swayze could have taught me the Pachanga”? It can’t just be us. So, naturally, we’re very jealous of Youtube star Saffron Barker, who’s currently getting to live out all our fantasies – alongside a motley crew of celebs including Blue’s Lee Ryan and Geordie Shore’s Marnie Simpson – for Channel 4’s The Real Dirty Dancing. And, unsurprisingly, the 21 year old had The Time Of Her Life…
How did you channel your inner Baby?
I’d already seen the film many times, but I watched it another seven times before we started filming – I’d stand by the TV practising the dance steps. But it’s quite hard to practise dirty dancing with your mum!
So, it was easier with the male celebs?
Oh yeah, Lee was my first partner. We got close really quickly and he made me feel really comfortable. He’s just this big bundle of energy. He was so good at playing Jonny, too. I felt like I really had to step up my game. And he kind of looks like Patrick Swayze. As the show went on, we were all like, “Oh my god, you’re morphing into him.”
We saw you doing a cheeky rumba on Strictly – but this takes sexy dancing to a whole new level…
I can’t lie, I found that really hard. I’ve never done anything like it. On Strictly, you’re with your partner all day every day, but on this, we’d literally just met and we all had to dirty dance with each other. I’ve never felt so outside my comfort zone. But in the long run, it gave me so much confidence. I genuinely think, “If I can dirty dance with a random stranger, I can do anything” now! ■
The Real Dirty Dancing airs Mon and Tues, 9pm, E4