The Mail on Sunday

Strictly’s Jonnie: The Paralympic­s were waltz in the park next to this!

They’re off . . . so that’s your weekends sorted till Christmas

- By Chris Hastings

JONNIE Peacock made Strictly Come Dancing history last night when he became the first disabled celebrity to take part in the contest.

And he admitted that dancing was even more challengin­g than taking part in the Paralympic­s.

Peacock, 24, who won 100m golds at both the London and the Rio Games, said: ‘When you are running in the Olympics you have three or four years to prepare. I have had two weeks to prepare for this. I don’t really know what I am doing. It’s definitely a lot more nerve-racking.’

The athlete, whose lower right leg was amputated after he contracted meningitis aged five, added: ‘With every single step there are about ten different things I am doing wrong.’

Peacock, who last night performed a waltz to When I Need You by Luther Vandross with his partner Oti Mabuse, said he might have to swap his ‘standard’ prosthetic leg for blades later in the series, which runs until December 16. He said: ‘There might be a couple of faster pace dances where I might need a blade, the jive, the quickstep, anything that requires constant bounce.’

Meanwhile, the Reverend Richard Coles, 56, became the first vicar on the show. He also admitted to nerves before he took to the dance floor, dressed entirely in white, to dance the cha-cha with partner Dianne Buswell to the very apt Eurythmics track There Must Be An Angel. Other highlights included Saturdays star Mollie King, 30, and her partner A. J. Pritchard jiving to Good Golly Miss Molly by Little Richard. Although Peacock was the first disabled person on the full Strictly show, war medic Cassidy Little, who lost part of his right leg in Afghanista­n, was in a Comic Relief special in 2015.

 ??  ?? NERVE-RACKING: Jonnie Peacock dances with Oti Mabuse GOOD HEAVENS! Rev Richard Coles and Dianne Buswell, and, above, Mollie King and A. J. Pritchard
NERVE-RACKING: Jonnie Peacock dances with Oti Mabuse GOOD HEAVENS! Rev Richard Coles and Dianne Buswell, and, above, Mollie King and A. J. Pritchard
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