Samba Womack
Enders’ Ronnie is a hot tip for Strictly
ACTRESS Samantha Womack is the latest EastEnders star set to swap Walford for the waltz on Strictly Come Dancing.
She is a hot tip for this year’s show and has said she will be back on the telly in September.
Samantha, 45, rejected previous approaches because she was too busy “crying for a living” on Enders.
But after her exit last year when her character Ronnie Mitchell was killed off, there is every cha cha chance she will join a star-studded Strictly line-up.
While refusing to reveal what she has signed up to in the autumn, Samantha said: “I’m going to have the summer off and then I’m going back on the telly in September for something that hasn’t been announced yet.
“Then I do a play at the beginning of next year.”
The mum-of-three loves dancing but admits being judged would be tough. She added: “I hate auditions, I hate people judging me.
“I’m much better in a safer environment. I would really have to manage my anxiety on a job like that. I’ve done lots of musicals but I’m not a dancer, so I would be nervous about that. What appeals to me is the fitness and I love dancing in general.
“The last time they spoke to me about doing it I was in EastEnders and my storylines were too tragic and traumatic. As always.
“I was too busy crying for a living, so I couldn’t get enough rehearsal time. I would love to compete against my sister off EastEnders (actress Rita Simons, who played Roxy). We could be really, really bad losers!”
A string of Enders stars have appeared on Strictly including Jake Wood, 45, Davood Ghadami, 35, Kara Tointon, 34, and Jill Halfpenny, 42.
Kara won in 2010, while Jill landed the famous Glitterball trophy in 2004. Samantha – who has just appeared in BBC drama Silent Witness – stays fit and healthy by walking her dog, eating plenty of vegetables and going easy on alcohol.
But she admitted she has questioned her own mortality after a string of pals were hit by cancer.
And she was left shocked when Leslie Grantham – TV’s Dirty Den – died from cancer last month, aged 71.
Samantha, at The King And I gala night in London’s West End, added: “It was very premature and terribly sad. Lots of my friends are having cancer treatment or whatever, you get older and that happens. Luckily I haven’t had any scares.”
At my age you get used to people being ill, but losing Leslie was so terribly sad
SAM WOMACK ON DEATH OF TV CO-STAR GRANTHAM, ABOVE