Strictly Come Dancing favourite George Clarke has admitted he’s feeling the pressure ahead of this weekend’s Instant Dance challenge, opening up about it during an appearance on Morning Live.
In a first for the BBC show, the six remaining couples will have to revisit one of their earlier dance styles after performing their main routine – essentially putting them through two full-on performances in one night.
Up for grabs are as many as six precious bonus points, but only if they can win over Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke and Motsi Mabuse. And while the stakes are sky-high, George confessed he’s “absolutely bricking it”, with fans already sensing the nerves kicking in as the competition tightens.
Strictly Come Dancing’s George Clarke on the Instant Dance challenge
Appearing beside his professional dance partner Alexis Warr on Morning Live today (November 26), George set the scene for hosts Helen Skelton and Rav Wilding.
“It’s a bit of a challenge!” he grinned. “Basically, one of the dances that you’ve done before will get randomly selected alongside a random song. Then you have a few minutes to sort of scramble and get an outfit off some rails that hasn’t been planned before.
“I think it’s 10 seconds as the song starts that you get to just go, ‘OK… I guess we’re gonna do this!’ Which is terrifying,” George added.
What have the judges said about it?
At the time of the new challenge’s announcement, Shirley suggested it had “the power to change everything” for contestants.
“With standards so incredibly high this year and the competition so close, there’s a lot resting on it,” she said.
“The dance styles, costumes and music might not be revealed until the night, but what we can be sure of right now is that it’s going to be a whole lot of fun. I cannot wait!”
Having witnessed Instant Dance in the flesh on Germany’s version of Strictly, Motsi was best placed to tease what to expect.
She told Claudia Winkleman last weekend: “The question is, have they really learned to dance and understood what they are doing? Have they learned their basic steps? And you have to trust your partner. I’ve seen people have blackouts and just stand there. But I’ve seen some magical moments. Anything can happen.”
Strictly pro Alexis Warr’s job interview insight
Alexis opened up to Helen and Rav about just how much Blackpool Week factored into her original pitch to Strictly bosses – and it turns out the BBC were very eager to hear about her history with the iconic venue.
“The last time I danced in Blackpool was in 2017 at the Winter Gardens,” she said. “But this was my first time in the Tower Ballroom and it was everything and more.
“When I first got interviewed for the show, I heard so much about Blackpool and how big and epic it is. It’s one thing to hear about it, but actually experiencing it… it really does live up to all of it. It was a huge pinch-me moment.”
Alexis and George then brought the house down with a high-energy Salsa set to a mash-up of Party Rock Anthem, Rock This Party and Mr Saxobeat – and it paid off. The pair earned their best score of the series so far.
However, some fans weren’t happy with the scoring. They suggested he didn’t deserve the 3 10s and 1 9 he received from the judges, and slammed it as ‘ridiculous’.
Strictly Come Dancing resumes Saturday, November 29 at 6.35pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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