He may be comfortable passing judgement on others but for the next few months Judge Rinder will be under scrutiny from the Strictly Come Dancing judges.
Partnered with new pro Oksana Platero, Judge Rinder will be (hopefully) showing off another side to his abilities. Why did he decided to take part in the show?
“I really love the show and I really love dancing, even though I’m not very good, I’m a private secret dancer and I love to dance. The main reason is as my grandparents get older it’s a show they absolutely love. Although they’ve always been unconditionally proud of me I think there is something magical about being able to take part in something which gives them such joy and escapism especially as they suffer from all sorts of illnesses.”
Before taking to the dance floor for the first time, Judge Rinder has been asking former contestants for advice. “Susanna Reid typically told me just to be nice (I looked at her slightly perplexed thinking how on earth am I supposed to do that?) and Rachel Stevens who I grew up with said try to remember the steps and be talented (again that’s alright if you’re Rachel Stevens). She is amazing; she has always been super talented even when she was little. We used to play as kids; we’ve known each other since primary school.”
Aside from impressing the voting public, Judge Rinder also has his sights set on impressing one of the judges.
“I like to impress them all as I think they’re all amazing. I was a massive fan of Darcey Bussell even before she started Strictly and I’ve seen her in a number of ballets and as a huge fan of hers I’ll be actually quite intimidated to meet her – I’d really like her to say something nice, although I should say something nice as well.”
Watch Judge Rinder and Oksana’s first steps below:
Strictly Come Dancing 2016 returns at 9pm on Friday and 6.30pm on Saturday.
