If politics is showbiz for ugly people, then what kind of folks is Strictly Come Dancing for? Before the brouhaha, I’d have said talented, watchable, teachable, almost recognisable — but also fame-hungry. I’d have said Strictly is telly for pushy people. Which is presumably why some execs from unscripted tried to persuade moi a few years ago, over cocktails in the Electric.
“Won’t work, I’d make Jimmy Tarbuck look like the Sugar Plum Fairy,” I told them as I gargled my second picante. I even admitted that I never watch the show (true). I find it helps not to watch the shows before you sign up to do them, just keep a beady eye on the fee negotiation instead (I’d never watched Celebrity Big Brother or Celebrity Best Home Cook or Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins either, before I did them — too much reality, as they say).
