Strictly Come Dancing stars’ nightmares may come true this weekend’s Halloween special as some are struggling to prepare for the spooktacular episode.
Janette Manrara, on Strictly’s sister show It Takes Two, revealed some behind the scenes footage of four stars as they prepped for the upcoming performances.
We saw Harry and La Voix struggling with their steps while Alex is tapping into her silly side.
Strictly’s Halloween Special will be taking place this weekend, November 1. Fans initially feared the Halloween spectacular was not scheduled this year as it usually airs before the spooky night, but the BBC confirmed it’s coming to our screens on Saturday evening.
Harry and Karen struggle during Strictly Come Dancing Halloween special practice
Strictly: It Takes Two took us behind the training room doors to see what some of the stars are doing in preparing for the Halloween special episode.
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and pro Karen are practicing the American Smooth for their number.
“American Smooth is the combination of the foxtrot in close position and also side by side…” the pro explains. It can also include the waltz, Viennese waltz and tango, and is quite dramatic.
We see the pair arguing in a teaser clip, where Karen is quizzing the Olympian on his need to keep ‘turning’.
“Why do you turn? It’s my turn!” She asks.
Harry responds: “But when do I turn?”
Karen explains: “You don’t turn!”
In another clip he appears exasperated as he shouts: “What have I done?” and seems lost in the moves.
Harry admitted in a confessional: “The romance is gone,” referring to their easy-breezy phase earlier on in the competition. But he then said he can ‘smile’ through this dance, so he’s excited about that.
Karen is also excited she can smile, saying it’s been ‘two weeks’ due to the nature of their performances.
“I’m trying to figure out how to move gracefully, think gracefully, be so graceful… I kind of like the challenge.”
La Voix can’t keep up with the footwork
Whereas La Voix was putting the wrong foot first – or so it seems.
The drag queen and singer admitted the paso doble, which the pair are doing, is ‘very complicated’. This is due to the quick turns and footwork. While it looks impressive in a performance, may be too much to grasp in a matter of days.
But Aljaz says he’s “impressed” by the star’s ability to pick up the routines, despite how difficult they are.
However, the pro later joked that La Voix can’t ‘remember’ the patterns, even if he learns them.
La Voix agreed: “Sometimes it takes me 20 minutes to learn how to step forward on the left leg.”
Yikes, we hope he’ll remember that on the night, or Strictly will run over it’s time…
Whereas Amber and Nikita are attempting the Viennese waltz, and Alex and Johannes are performing a salsa. Alex has warned she will be ‘fully in character’ during her time on the dancefloor, so we’ll have to find out what lengths she’ll go to to sell a story.
View this post on Instagram
BBC bosses ‘eye up’ ITV hosting legend
It comes after reports BBC chiefs are eyeing up Holly Willoughby to host alongside Anton Du Beke after Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman’s exit news.
Tess and Claudia confirmed the sad news in a video, and released a joint statement on their departure. They’ll be leaving the show at the end of the current series.
They said: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time.
Read more: Huge blow for Strictly fan-favourite Aljaz Skorjanec ahead of Halloween Week
“We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show. They’re the most brilliant team and we’ll miss them every day.
“We will cry when we say the last ‘keep dancing’ but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.”
After the news, many names have been thrown into the ring for a replacement.
Even It Takes Two’s Janette Manrara has been speculated to be the new face of the show.
Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturday at 6.25pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The results show airs on Sunday at 7.15pm.