Irish TV star Angela Scanlon delivered an “intense” tango for her Strictly Come Dancing debut with her partner Carlos Gu.
The 39-year-old Co Meath-born presenter, who hosts BBC Two’s Your Home Made Perfect, performed to Prisoner by Miley Cyrus featuring Dua Lipa during the competition’s first live show of 2023 on Saturday night.
Dressed in a pink and red flowing gown with her ginger locks pulled back into a bun, Scanlon twirled her way to a score of 23 points.
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Reflecting on the performance, judge Anton Du Beke said: “The drama, the intense, the commitment was magnificent.”
He advised her to work on her posture and to take bigger backwards steps to help make her “more marvellous”.
Craig Revel Horwood told the presenter he felt she lost some momentum inbetween the “attack” moments, but that she has “a lot of potential”.
Motsi Mabuse agreed and said she felt the performance was “something special”.
“You had that focus, that attack, that tension in your body, I think maybe even a little bit too much tension, that’s why you couldn’t soften it up,” she added.
Meanwhile, head judge Shirley Ballas predicted she would be “quite a force to be reckoned with” if she continued to work on her framing.
Asked how she felt after the performance, she told host Claudia Winkleman: “I didn’t headbutt Carlos which is a plus because it happened in reverse.”
Two of the presenter’s sisters were in the audience to cheer the Irish star on, with Scanlon revealing that her third sister was not in attendance as she had just given birth during the launch show.
Ahead of the performance, viewers were shown behind-the-scenes moments from their rehearsals where Scanlon can be seen saying: “I feel like a newborn foal who’s just trying to get in control of her limb.”
She also praised her dance partner saying: “I think Carlos is a very good match for me,” while he added that she had “great energy” and a “fun personality”.
