‘WE JUST WANT THE BEST FOR EACH OTHER!’
Love Island’s BFFS Curtis Pritchard and Tommy Fury spill the beans on their new show The Boxer & The Ballroom Dancer
When Curtis Pritchard and Tommy Fury walked into the villa in this year’s Love Island, not only did they find love in the form of girlfriends Maura Higgins and Molly-mae Hague, they also embarked on the ultimate bromance.
Viewers tuned in over the summer to see Curtis, 23, and Tommy, 20, ‘crack on’, win over their girls and ultimately be a shoulder for one another to cry on.
Now the boys are back on ITV2 for their own three-part series The Boxer And The Ballroom Dancer, which sees them swap professions – with boxer Tommy showing off his best ballroom moves and dancer Curtis donning a pair of gloves and getting into the ring. We caught up with the boys to find out what we can expect, why their bromance is for keeps and why their ladies are so supportive.
Hi guys, how did the idea for the show come about? Curtis: It was a mix of ITV and us guys coming together and it sort of all happened! It’s incredible, it’s crazy, there’s gonna be a lot of laughs and a lot of fun in there.
Did you hit any hurdles during filming?
Curtis: It was mainly just the schedules. We’re both so busy and we’re having to travel back and forwards. Obviously Maura is in London and my training’s been in Manchester so having to travel back and forth for little simple things, I found that hard.
Tommy: I’ve got my fight coming up and it’s hard enough – a year of training for a fight, dieting, training twice a day. It’s very time-consuming and the last few months I’ve learnt how to ballroom dance, on the side of training for a big fight.
You’ve gotta juggle it.
What are you like as a dancer, Tommy?
Tommy: It’s not like I can’t dance at all, but I’m not the best. It’s been a good laugh, I’ve met some great people and now
I won’t have to learn how to dance at my wedding!
Er… so wedding bells are on your mind!?
Tommy: No, definitely not! You’ll have to stay tuned for that one.
Tease! Have you roped Molly-mae into practising with you?
Tommy: I’d try to get her to do a dance with me at night! She’s been very supportive and done everything she can – she’s even shining my boots for me.
Has training taken a toll on your relationship? Tommy: Molly and me live together, so no matter what we do in the day, we always come back to the same place. We’ve had every night together. My dancing is only 20 minutes up the road, so after I finish at 5pm, I can come home and we can have nice meals and go to the cinema.
And Curtis, are you worried about getting in the ring?
Curtis: I physically cannot wait. Yeah I’m gonna get punched, yeah, it’s probably gonna hurt, but I’ve fallen in love with it. It’s an incredible sport.
Haven’t you had some help from
Ricky Hatton?
Curtis: Yeah, I was training with him a few weeks ago. That was tough, it’s Ricky Hatton! It’s a privilege – he was fast on the pads, so I thought, “Ooh,
I’ve gotta up my game here to keep up with him.”
Will Maura be in the ring?
Curtis: Well, she was a ring girl, wasn’t she? I’ve said that I want Maura sat next to my mum and dad. So my dad is ditching Strictly now to come and watch me!
Have you and Tommy been competitive with each other?
Curtis: We’re best mates, but we are competitive sportsmen too – I just want the best for him in the dancing and vice versa.
Have you managed to find much time to work on your bromance? Curtis: To be fair, this has been really good for us because we’ve spent so much time together throughout the whole process. We’ve had meals and stuff after.
Tommy: This has enabled us to see each other more. We’ll obviously build on our relationship because on Love Island we were together every single day. Then we came out and had all these things to do. So it’s nice to link back up, even after filming and after training, just to sit down in a bar and have a nice chat.
The Boxer & The Ballroom Dancer, Monday 16 December, 9pm, ITV2