Irish TV star Angela Scanlon has said she and her Strictly Come Dancing partner Carlos Gu had the “time for our lives” when they took on the jive last Saturday.
During the second live episode of the 21st series, the Co Meath-born TV presenter performed the lively dance to Trouble by Shampoo, which secured them a score of 29 points.
Reflecting on the performance on the show’s spin-off It Takes Two, Scanlon said: “We did have the time for our lives, eventually.
“That was my plan, ‘Okay we’re going to work really, really hard so that by the time we go out on Saturday night I can hopefully forget everything and just have a good time’.”
The performance saw the presenter dance on her own at times, which she said made her realise how “dependent” she had become on her dance partner.
They also revealed that Scanlon accidentally caused Gu’s nose to bleed on show day after she ran straight into it during rehearsals.
Despite the injury, their score went from 23 in week one to 29 points on Saturday.
Gu explained they had “so much fun together” during their first couple of weeks of rehearsals but realised they had to take it up a gear after seeing the standard of the talent on the first live show.
For their movie week routine this Saturday, they will take on the Charleston to the song Who’s Got The Pain, which featured in the 1958 rom-com Damn Yankees.
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Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen, the film was an adaptation of a Broadway musical, which was itself based on the 1954 novel The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant by Douglass Wallop.
In the 1958 movie, Tony award-winning actress Gwen Verdon and US actor and choreographer Bob Fosse perform a synchronised routine, which Scanlon and Gu will be taking inspiration from.
Reflecting on the performance, Scanlon said: “It’s a heavy old mix and I didn’t know until last week who Bob Fosse was.”
She also explained that after watching a video of their routine she realised how it will require her to be confident in the steps, saying: “I mean I can’t look at him out the side of my eye, I’ve got to know what I’m doing.”
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One on Saturday night.
