On Wednesday, viewers of Loose Women saw Coleen Nolan, Charlene White, Brenda Edwards and Judi Love chatting with JB Gill and Lauren Oakley about their fresh partnership.
The update follows Amy Dowden’s withdrawal due to injury, meaning this was JB and Lauren’s first TV outing together as dance partners.
During the chat, JB let slip about his unique pre-performance ritual that even his wife wants him to break. Judi commented: “Your wife is a dancer, you have a special ritual that you do before you go on?!
Interjecting with humour, Charlene cheekily inquired if his routine was suitable for daytime audiences, which gave JB a good chuckle before he reassured everyone that it was indeed appropriate.
Explaining his routine, JB admitted: “As I come down the stairs to do my walk down, I always try and look for her in the audience. She always says to me ‘Don’t do that because if I’m not sat in that place, you’ll be like this (shakes head) the whole time!’
“I did it as a kid! I always used to look for my mum or my dad or someone on the sidelines. I think it’s just a habit that’s died hard, usually, I find her pretty quickly then it erases all the nerves.”
Judi prodded further into how his wife felt when he initially received the invite to join the BBC programme, reports the Mirror.
JB owned up that she was thrilled, explaining to the Loose Women panel that taking part in Strictly Come Dancing was something he had wanted to do for a while.
In their recent performance, JB and Lauren captivated with a Bruno Mars mix-up for Icons Week, bagging them a remarkable 39 points.
They’ve opened up about Lauren stepping into Amy’s dancing shoes amid her stepping back.
He remarked, “It’s one of those things, of course, no one would’ve ever wished for an outcome like that, but the show must go on and you have to deal with it. The most important thing for us is that Amy gets better and gets time to rest.”
Lauren acknowledged the challenge, noting the adjustments needed due to her differing stature from Amy’s.
Adding to the conversation, she said, “It’s also about getting used to the teaching style that I use and trying to understand how JB listens and understands things in the training room.”
The forthcoming weekend show will feature JB Gill and Lauren Oakley dancing the Samba to ‘Mas Que Nada’ by Sergio Mendes.
Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday 9th November on BBC One and iPlayer from 6.35pm.
Loose Women continues weekdays on ITV from 12:30pm