Strictly Come Dancing star reveals they ‘never watched the show’ until last year

Pete Wicks has revealed he had never seen Strictly Come Dancing before the live shows last year as he now prepares to compete in the 2024 series.

The Only Way Is Essex star, 36, is among this year’s cast on the BBC show’s 20th anniversary, alongside the likes of Toyah Willcox, Tasha Ghouri, and Shayne Ward.

With the series premiere right around the corner, Strictly fans are getting ready to see which celebrity and professional dancer pairing will list the Glitterball Trophy.

But for Pete, he’s more than just a newbie to the dancefloor after he revealed he first watched the hit show last year when close friend Zara McDermott competed alongside Graziano Di Prima.

Appearing on today’s episode of Lorraine, the TV personality admitted he was ‘petrified’ to take part and joked he ‘has the hips there but nothing else’ when it comes to dancing.

When asked by host Lorraine Kelly if Zara – who is dating Pete’s famous pal and I’m A Celebrity winnerSam Thompson – encouraged him to compete, he made the admission that he was relatively unfamiliar with Strictly.

‘She loves the show. I’ve been quite honest about the fact I’ve never actually seen it,’ he revealed.

‘I’ve genuinely never seen it. The first time I watched Strictly was the first live show with Zara last year and I just thought “Wow, this is amazing.”‘

He said he ‘never imagined’ that he would take part in the show, but is excited for a ‘brand new challenge.’

‘I’m a man that likes black. I had a photo shoot the other day and wow, it was interesting,’ he teased. ‘You wait until you see it. There was all sorts going on.’

It comes after Pete revealed he is recovering from an injury sustained during his appearance on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, which will air around the same time as his Strictly stint.

The reality star was medically withdrawn from the 2022 series after he injured himself jumping out of a helicopter into a lake.

Talking about his injury on his Staying Relevant podcast with Sam, Pete admitted he’s ‘worried’ about Strictly rehearsals, saying: ‘I’m 36, I haven’t been to the gym in ages.’

‘My ribs are still broken, which is going to be a pain,’ he continued.

The star previously shared how he was ‘gutted’ to have to quit SAS: Who Dares Wins over his injury, which saw him knock himself unconscious.

‘I had no worries about that challenge, which is the weirdest thing. My strongest thing is probably swimming,’ he said.

‘I genuinely thought this would be the challenge for me to show what I got and I got it wrong, I got it very wrong.

‘I think my leg got a little bit caught in the bag and I went straight down onto the bag, knocked myself out and broke my ribs.’