Strictly Come Dancing will return later this year for its latest series as a brand-new set of celebrities will be paired up with one of the show’s many professional dancers. Amy Dowden – who has been a professional on the show since 2017 – has confirmed she will be back for another year after being a runner-up on last year’s series. Now, in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, she revealed one moment where a routine with Karim on last year’s show very nearly went wrong.
Last year, BBC viewers saw former Emmerdale star Kelvin Fletcher lift the trophy alongside professional dancer Oti Mabuse.
The pair won after a very close final, where they were joined by EastEnders star Emma Barton and CBBC presenter, Karim Zeroual.
Karim was partnered with Amy on the show, where the couple had huge success throughout, gaining the highest average scores from the judges.
They also claimed the first perfect score of the series after dancing a Hairspray inspired Jive, which was met with huge praise from all four judges.
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Amy was quick to reassure her partner and confessed what advice she gave Karim before they took to the dance floor.
She added: “I just said to him, ‘Give me, you know, a really strong hold. You’ll be fine, I can get you through this.’
“But on the inside, I was really, really scared and nervous thinking ‘Oh no, this could all go terribly wrong’ and I’d really pushed the choreography that week and I was thinking ‘Oh no, what have I done?’
“And then the music came on, I could just tell that in his eyes. He knew it like all of us, it just, it just clicked and yeah he nailed it. But for those five minutes before we went to go on my heart was pounding in and so was his!”
It obviously paid off as the pair got their highest score to date in week four, with judges Bruno Tonioli and Motsi Mabuse both issuing them with 10s.
She also opened up on her favourite dances from last year, noting: “My favourite one was, well I have two. Obviously my favourite was the Jive and I also loved the Charleston, I loved doing the Couple’s Choice – quite a lot I loved.”
Amy revealed she is still in regular contact with her partner and the pair recently did an Instagram live together, answering questions about their time on the show.
The dancer noted: “Yeah, we speak quite often. He did Sports Relief, he was on there, obviously, we are now both safely self-isolating!”
Strictly Come Dancing returns later this year on BBC One.
