STRICTLY star Lewis Cope is better than the programme’s professional dancers, a former show star has claimed.
The Emmerdale actor lit up the Blackpool Ballroom at the weekend, scoring a perfect 40 for his Charleston to I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor.
And James Jordan, who called it one of the best performances in the show’s history, thinks he outshone his pro partner Katya Jones and performed moves that “80 percent” of the male pros couldn’t do.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun on behalf of Freebets.com, he said: “He is a fully-trained dancer. You cannot go out there and do what he’s doing unless you have f***ing loads of dance training.
“It would make our profession look like it’s really easy, and it’s not really easy, hence why people who have had no dance training are s**t in comparison.”
He likened it to a promising golf novice having a few decent lessons and being invited to compete on the PGA tour, adding: “It never happens.”
“You can’t suddenly do the stuff that he’s doing unless you’re dance-trained,” James continued.
“It’s exceptional what he’s doing, and I love watching him, and I think that creates a great choreography.
“But let’s not forget that the only reason he’s doing that is because he’s dance-trained.”
He continued: “Honestly, if you watch that routine back from last week, he was as good, if not better, than Katya.
“And I can categorically say some of the stuff that he did, I would put my bottom dollar on it, 80 percent of the boy pros on that show couldn’t, and 100 percent of them couldn’t do the flips and tricks that he was doing, because we’re not trained in that.
“We’ve never done that before. If I tried to do some of the stuff he was doing, I’d break my spine.”
“I love it. I love watching him. I thought he was amazing. He’s, in my opinion, done two of the best dances ever seen on Strictly: his couple’s choice and the dance from last week. It was exceptional. But that’s only because he’s dance-trained.”
Despite the gulf in class, James doesn’t think it’s a foregone conclusion he’ll win the glitterball.
He picked out George Clarke‘s partnership with Alexis Warr and Amber Davies‘ work with Nikita Kuzmin as worthy winners, and also named Karen Carney as a contender, though lagging behind the other three.
After four weeks in the bottom two, James predicts Balvinder Sopal will be the next star to be sent home.
Despite this, he was delighted to see her perform freely at the tower without the threat of a dance-off lingering over her.
The contestants had a reprieve as the Blackpool elimination was cancelled due to La Voix’s exit through injury.
