Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Dancing to You’ll Never Walk Alone will be emotional. I was at Hillsborough that day but I was lucky... a boy I was at school with died
in fashion and textile design. Having taught himself to cook, he opened his first restaurant, Greens, in Didsbury, Manchester in 1990. After that came the first of many TV appearances, starting out on Granada Breeze then doing stints on ITV daytime, including This Morning. He is best-known for his on-screen partnership with “bestmate” Tim Lovejoy, which started in 2006 on BBC2’S Something for the
Weekend and went on from 2012 on C4’s
Sunday Brunch.
In 2006, he opened a second restaurant, Earle, in Hale and has written books including The Rebel Cook.
Simon met wife Ali, 50, when they were both waiting tables in Manchester.
He says she and their kids Florence, 19, and
Hamish, 14, are supporting his dancing by laughing at him.
“My wife rolls her eyes a lot,” he says. “My daughter just started uni. She got a shoutout on the show last week because she posted she wasn’t using her own surname so people wouldn’t know she was my daughter. My son said, ‘Thanks Dad, you’ve committed social suicide’, but he’s enjoying it because everyone’s talking about it. I wouldn’t want them to be, ‘Oh darling, is everything OK?’. It’s better that they’re taking the mickey out of me.”
Simon says he signed up to Strictly simply for the joy of doing it. “I’m doing it for the fun,” he says. “There’s part of me who feels like I’m doing it for every other ordinary, middle-aged bloke really.”
And he is putting the same determination in as he did when he opened that first restaurant. Long days of working, training and travelling have become the norm. “I knew what I was letting myself in for,” he says. “But since I started I haven’t worked less than 16 hours a day, seven days a week.” Simon is not even cross with the marking, saying: “I don’t disagree with the comments. I was happy with what I did last week. Karen said, ‘Whatever you do, don’t be beige’, and I don’t think I was. All I can do is my best.” Mate Tim Lovejoy has joked that Simon could be leaving early and bookies yesterday had him as the favourite to exit first. He very much hopes not, admitting none of the contestants like to talk about it. He says: “It’s the elephant in the room when we meet up. I hope it isn’t me – but if it is, it won’t be through lack of effort.” Strictly is on BBC1 tonight at 6.45pm.