AJ: ‘Strictly’s changed Lauren’s outlook on life’
The floppy-haired dancing pro talks celeb journeys and jealous former partners
It’s the stuff of Strictly fairy tales: a hesitant celeb blossoms into a confident princess of the ballroom, thanks to her Prince Charming pro. Yes, Paralympic champion Lauren Steadman’s dance-floor #journey has been a thrilling watch, not least for AJ Pritchard, 24, who told us that his 25year-old partner was “insecure” at the start of the series. Speaking on heat’s Big Night
In, AJ said that the show has transformed Lauren into a confident performer.
Meanwhile, while the dancer is focused on getting Lauren to a winning standard, we can’t help but notice the adorable chemistry between the pair – and we’re not the only ones. It turns out that AJ’S 2016 partner Mollie King is now the one feeling insecure…
You and Lauren have come so far…
In our first week, I said to her, “I want you to use your arm,” but she was so insecure and didn’t want to show it. But now, she’s like, “Of course I will!” And the nice thing is, when we’re in public, people used to be looking at her arm, but now they say to her, “We love your personality.” She’s now got a different outlook on life.
She definitely seems to be enjoying it more…
She’s loving it! At first, she was nervous and didn’t know what she was doing. But her confidence has grown, and she just smashes it out of the park.
Danny John-jules was voted off amid rumours that he was bullying his partner Amy Dowden. Have the pros talked about it?
Well, we have a Whatsapp group, which is hilarious. I’m never going to say what’s on there! But we try to stay away from it. When we’re performing, we try to focus on what the show is really all about. But Amy was so professional – she did herself proud.
Mollie said watching you dance with Lauren felt like you were cheating on her…
Yeah, she did say that it was a bit weird, watching me dance with someone else. She came to watch the week we did the Jive to Girlfriend. Luckily, I wasn’t sitting next to her when I entered from the audience – that would have been awkward.