And is not scared of Craig I’m going to glitz up my false leg
MOLLIE’S DEBUT FLOP FEAR Strictly
JONNIE Peacock is planning to give his prosthetic limb the glitter treatment for added showmanship if his dance moves prove to be dazzling. The Paralympic sprinting champ took his first turn on Strictly last night with pro partner Oti Mobuse. And he said: “If we make it to week three, maybe I’ll glitter my prosthetic up. Oti wants me to do it.” Jonnie also revealed he is not worried about acid- tongued feedback from judge Craig Revel Horwood – but he is quaking at the idea of criticism from his other half. He performed on the BBC show last night under the watchful eye of girlfriend Sally Brown, who is also a Paralympic runner.
Bumbling
Jonnie, 24, said: “She’ll bring me back down to earth. She’ll go ‘What the hell were you doing there?’. My girlfriend will be the hardest critic to please, even harder than Craig.”
Jonnie and Sally have been dating for four years and he insists there will be no chance of their relationship succumbing to the Strictly curse.
He said: “My girlfriend trusts me. I’m very happy with her.”
The couple have even been enjoying dinners with his dance partner Oti and her husband.
Jonnie won golds for Team GB at London 2012 and Rio 2016 – but reckons Strictly is more terrifying than any race he has entered. He said: “This is scarier than the Paralympics. I had four years to prepare for that. I had two weeks for this.
“We’re just going to go out there and have fun but it’s definitely more nerve-racking. I’m trying my best not to look like a bumbling idiot.”
Jonnie is the first celebrity with a disability to appear in the BBC dance contest.
He had to have his right leg amputated below the knee after contracting meningitis when he was MOLLIE KingK admitted being terrified of messing up her debut dance routine – even though shes is a hot tip to lift the trophy.
“It’s so scary being in one of TV’s biggest shows andan doing this in front of millions of viewers,”viewers, said the ex-Saturdays singer, 30.
“You tryt to bat it away but you can’t help think, ‘What‘W do I look like doing this move?’ I hope I lookl half-decent.
“When I walk down the steps in those heels I don’td want to tumble down.
“I wantwan to look graceful and I don’t want to forget the routine. Some say I’m one of the favourites but that doesn’t give me confidence. It makes me feel petrified.
“I’d be gutted if I went out in the first few weeks. I want to get to the halfway point at least. I’m very competitive.”
Mollie is partnered with the show’s youngest pro dancer AJ Pritchard, 22 – but it seems he has his work cut out, as Mollie declared: “I don’t feel very prepared at all.
“I’ve got the tan but I have to learn these moves. This is a whole new world to me but I’m up for the challenge.”
She admitted missing her old bandmates and hinted that they could reform, saying: “We do talk about getting back together.” five. Cambridge-born Jonnie hopes to smash stigmas with his performances on Strictly – and says it will be his dancing ability rather than his leg that lets him down. He said: “People looking at this wouldn’t necessarily think an amputee could dance. They’re not going to be able to lift, to move very well. I came out of my medical and the doctor goes ‘How are you with lifts? Are you stable on two feet?’. I do athletics, I do sprinting, I box step-up, where I single left-step up on to a box with 240 kilos on my back, so I’ll probably be OK.
“And the doctor said ‘Oh, I didn’t know you could that’. So it’s showing people what you can do.
“You’ll find it’s not the leg letting me down, it’s my dancing ability!”
Positive
Speaking of how he was bullied as a child over his disability, he said he hopes to inspire others.
Jonnie said: “When I was younger, I wanted to hide it and forget about it. I didn’t want to be seen as different.
“What I want people to get from the show is that I’m not different.
“It will be interesting to see how the judges judge me. They might say, ‘You didn’t point your toe enough on that’. Sorry, I can’t really do much.
“Hopefully, there will be people who watch it and take away something. People go through dark times and seeing somebody do something can lift them up. That’s a massive bonus to doing this. Everyone thinks, ‘ Oh, you’ve got a disability, it must be hard’.
“But every single person has problems of their own. Some disabled people come up to bigger problems but it’s all relative to their life. It’s about pushing past that and being positive.”