Strictly stars are in the pink
JAMIE Laing looks in the pink with his Strictly dance partner yesterday – but rival Bill Bailey may have more of a cha- cha- chance in the hit BBC show.
As reality star Jamie, 31, headed for rehearsals with Karen Hauer, it emerged that rival Bill has had ballroom training.
The comic – pictured below with dance partner Oti Mabuse – confessed to having lessons as a youngster.
Lessons
Writing in his new book, the 55- year- old said: “When I was a teenager I had ballroom dancing lessons. There was a dance school across the road from our house and I learned the waltz, the foxtrot and the quickstep.”
In previous years, Strictly has defended contestants with apparent dance experience by saying they did not have “ballroom or Latin” experience.
In his book, Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide To Happiness, the star added: “The teacher was a tiny, petite woman with a huge passion for The Dance.
“It was a marvellous and quite surreal experience to whirl around a dance hall with this ball of terpsichorean energy.
“Bless her and all those she must have enlightened to her world. I can see the appeal of the foxtrot, the tango, the rhumba, the formal nature of it all.
“But it’s not really me.” Last night, a Strictly source defended Bill’s inclusion.
They stressed he only had two lessons and that it was 40 years ago.
They added: “If he was joining Strictly straight after having ballroom lessons, or he had a professional ballroom background, it would have been very different.”