There may be a Strictly curse – but it’s not what you think
The Youtube star on Seann and Katya, the Cha Cha and the importance of exfoliation
Much like everyone else, I read about the kiss between Seann and Katya online at the weekend. To be honest, I wasn’t really that aware of the “Strictly Curse”. Like I would with any of my friends, I’m staying out of it as it’s none of my business. I’m sure on Saturday everyone will just be concentrating on making the best show possible.
Speaking of curses, there’s been a bit of a Cha Cha Cha curse this series. Stacey and Lauren didn’t like it and Lee was voted out after his last week. We’re doing the Cha Cha this week so there’s a bit of pressure there, but I like that. You’ve got to keep the legs straight, so I’ve been concentrating on technique and I’m learning a whole new language – the check walk and the ronde chasse are both in my vocabulary now.
I thought Lee’s Back to the Future routine was one of the highlights, so I was sad to see him go. I used to listen to Blue when I was younger and Lee was always my favourite as he’s such a happy-go-lucky guy. I’ve been rewatching the dances and trying to avoid certain things that the judges pick up on, like not being pigeon-toed and making sure my posture is correct. And yes, thanks to Craig’s comments, I’ve been working on not sticking my bum out.
I do a series on my Youtube channel with Dianne where we analyse the training clips we’ve filmed. All of last week I didn’t stick my bum out, and then all of a sudden on Saturday night, there it was. We still can’t work out why I did it. The Cha Cha is such a different style to last week’s American Smooth. On the first day of training I complained that it was too fast. Dianne wasn’t having any of it, so I’ve had to get used to it pretty quickly.
We’re dancing to Just Got Paid by Sigala, Ella Eyre and Meghan Trainor – it’s such a happy and upbeat song and lots of fun. The theme of the routine is that party feeling you get at the end of the month when you’ve been paid. I don’t find out about my costume until dress rehearsals on Fridays – it’s the most exciting part of the week for me. I think the bar has been set with the Minion costumes that Stacey and Kevin wore last week. I’m also learning about how to exfoliate for the spray tans. I got a ticking off for not exfoliating the top half of my body as I was starting to look a bit ridiculous. All life skills, I suppose.
It’s been a challenge balancing my work life and Strictly, but the videos I’ve been posting on my Youtube channel about dancing have been doing loads better than my regular content. Obviously I don’t want to alienate my regular audience, but at the moment it’s working out really well.
No one really knows what the public think. I started off strong, but last week we got a lower score and I wasn’t sure if it was enough to keep us in. It’s been a bit strange just having compliments from the judges so far, but we had some constructive criticism last week. I like having something to work towards.
Joe Sugg was talking to Rachel Ward; Strictly Come Dancing is on Saturday on BBC One at 6.40pm