Strictly struggler’s wife: Even I’m amazed Dan’s not been cha-cha-chucked!
HE has managed to reach the Strictly quarter-finals despite consistently finishing in the bottom half of the leaderboard.
And no one is more shocked than Dan Walker’s own wife, who is ‘amazed’ he has made it this far in the competition.
The 6ft 6in BBC Breakfast host – who is partnered with Nadiya Bychkova, 32 – has faced a barrage of online abuse for evading every dance-off to date.
Despite being so close to the final, the 44year-old says he ‘hasn’t thought’ about lifting the glitterball trophy. He told the Daily Mail: ‘I’ve genuinely never thought about it because when I first started this I did it because my kids begged me to do it.
‘I even had a holiday booked in October half term. I was thinking, “Don’t go out in
One woman and 500 Strictly outfits: P24&25
week one, but three weeks maximum, I’ll probably be gone in a month”.’
Asked what his wife Sarah made of it, Walker added: ‘I think she’s amazed I’ve got this far. Before I started the competition she said to me, “Do you even know if you can dance?” and I said, “I don’t really know”.
‘I think in my entire life before I did Strictly I’d only been on a dancefloor maybe 15 or 20 times. I always felt a bit tall and awkward and uncomfortable, so I avoided it.’
The father of three, who will dance the tango tonight, has so far escaped the danceoff thanks to winning public votes. He has been the subject of online hate, with some claiming the show is a ‘fix’ as he has remained while better dancers have left.
■ Bed company Dreams has been forced to stop using the word ‘fab-u-lous’ in a marketing tie-up with Craig Revel Horwood after the BBC noticed it was using the Strictly judge’s on-air catchphrase.