Fleur East loves being “in the thick” of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
Fleur East loves still being involved in Strictly
The 33-year-old singer competed in last year's edition of the BBC Latin and ballroom show and after landing a job as host of the spin-off series 'Strictly: It Takes Two' along with Janette Manrara has declared that her "journey" with the series isn't over yet.
She told Hello magazine: “I imagined that when ‘Strictly’ came back around, I’d be watching all the new celebs from home, reminiscing, but now I’m in the thick of it again.
“It feels like I’m doing it all over again, but it just from a lot more of a relaxed perspective because I don’t have to stress about doing a dance every weekend.
“It’s lovely to be still part of it. My ‘Strictly’ journey hasn’t ended.”
Fleur admitted it was lovely to actually stay in touch with her former professional partner Vito Coppola, 31, as she joked that she can't "get rid" of him.
She said: “We became like brother and sister on the show at the end. Vito was like, ‘Partner, you’re not going to be able to get rid of me!’ AndI was like, ‘People always say things like that.’ But I honestly could not get rid of Vito.
“It’s nice to able to have our friendship outside of the ‘Strictly’ bubble, but also to get to see each other and cheer each other on within it.”
The former 'X Factor' star spilled she was warned by fellow ‘Strictly’ alumni Gemma Atkinson, 38 - who is in a relationship with her professional dancer Gorka Marquez, 33, and has two kids Mia, four, and Thiago, three monthsmwith him - that she would struggle to watch Vito be partnered with someone and compared it to “cheating”.
Fleur said: “It was like, ‘Excuse me, what’s happening here? I’m the one who’s supposed to be on the dancefloor with you.”
“Gemma Atkinson said to me, ‘You’re gonna feel like Vito is dance-cheating on you.’ and it is a little bit like that.
“But to be completely honest, doing ‘It Takes Two’ has really helped me adjust to that because now I’m wearing this new hat.
“I think if I was sitting at home watching it every week, it would be very different.”
Fleur confessed that Vito and his new partner ‘Coronation Street star Ellie Leach, 22, “absolutely smashed it” on their first show and how ‘Big Brother' host AJ Odudu, 35, had given her tips on how to cope last year.
She said: “She absolutely smashed it - I think everybody is so good this year. It’s been nice to be able to check in with all of the contestants every week and say to them, ‘I’ve been there - what are you doing this week? How are you feet feeling?’”.
“Before I started last year, my good friend AJ Odudu gave me a lot of advice, but it would’ve been invaluable to feel like I had someone throughout the journey that had experienced it, to be me exactly what to expect.”
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