Karen Hauer celebrates her third year as a pro dancer on Strictly Come Dancing this year.
In 2012 she danced with former Westlife star Nicky Byrne and last year she entertained the nation dancing with Hairy Biker Dave Myers. During tonightās launch show Karen discovered she will be dancing with former TOWIE star Mark Wright on the new series.
We caught up with Karen to talk about dancing with Mark, find out what his natural ability is like and to discuss whatās coming up on this yearās series.
The nation has just found out youāll be dancing with Mark Wright on this yearās series. How do you feel about that?
I am ridiculously happy! Really, really happy. Itās funny because during the Strictly mingle when we first meet the celebs I didnāt really get to dance with Mark that much so I didnāt get to know much about him, his personality or anything. He seemed very quiet and shy. I was usually dancing with Gregg (Wallace) or Tim (Wonnacott) who are fantastic and a really fun laugh. I was really surprised that I got Mark and Iām really excited as well. When we started talkingā¦heās just the sweetest man and just the nicest person ever. Heās very smiley and he really wants to try hard because heās just a beginner. Most of the other celebs have a good right foot but letās hope that Mark has two right feet by the end of the series (laughs)
Where will you be training with Mark?
I have to travel to Essex which should be an adventure for me because Iāve never been around that area. Iām really looking forward to seeing what Essex is all about and finding out more about it. Hopefully Mark will help me out with that!
Mark is a very busy man! Does he have anything else on at the moment or is he concentrating solely on Strictly?
I think heās concentrating solely on Strictly but he does have a radio show too. Iām not sure if heāll take a break from it but I know his main focus right now is going to be doing Strictly. He wants to do well and Iām really excited.
Dancing with Mark is going to be a very different experience to dancing with Hairy Biker Dave last year isnāt it?
Yeah very different but I want Mark to enjoy every moment. Every celebrityās journey on Strictly is different but we always want them to have a good time and to have great memories of Strictly. With Mark Iām going to try and bring the best out of him on the dancefloor. He seems very focused and up for it and giving it a good kick. Iām really looking forward to working with him. Nothingās going to be like last yearās Salsa with fruits on my head and Dave holding maracas whilst I push him in a trolley but weāll see what Mark and I do this year (laughs).
Have you had chance to start planning your routines for this series yet?
I have the whole series planned out (laughs) No! Actually tomorrow weāre going to record our intros with our celebs and itās one of those things that the more I do research on Mark, the more I see his personality, talk to him and see how he really is I think thatās when the routines and the ideas will start coming out. From watching him so far he can move very well so Iām not going to hold back. Iām going to throw ideas at him and make him take risks and do a lot of different characters. Heāll love every second of it. Iām going to throw everything that I have and hopefully heāll embrace it.
This is your third year as a professional on the show. Are you feeling really settled on the show now?
Oh yeah! I feel part of the furniture nowā¦Iām a couch! (laughs) Strictly feels natural now and like family. Everybody is so nice on production, backstage and hair and make-up ā theyāre incredible. Itās a really good positive energy. It feels really nice just to go somewhere where you feel at home.
We hear that the group numbers this year are going to be even more spectacular than last yearās. What can you possibly do to top the last series?
Weāre bringing in everything ā clowns, animals (laughs) No Iām kidding! The level this year is just incredible. I just want you to wait and see and youāll be surprised. It would be a shame for me to tell you whatās going to be happening. Wait and watch and hopefully you will be blown away.
Once the show has been back for a couple of weeks a dark horse usually emerges. Do you have any inkling who that might be this year?
The first and second week is when you start seeing the real potential coming out. Everybody is really excited for the first show and they want to try and do their best. Weāll start to see the competitive side and who wants it really bad. They all want to do great but youāll seen the ones that really start taking it seriously and putting in the hours. Usually that dark horse pops out the second week.
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th September with the first of the seriesā live shows.