What did you miss?
Sam Thompson has said his best mate Pete Wicks has been through a big turning point on Strictly Come Dancing, admitting he “adores” the show after not expecting to enjoy it.
The Only Way Is Essex star is taking part in this year’s BBC series with Jowita Przystal and although he has said it was never his dream to do the show, Thompson told Lorraine his friend now feels he is a dancer and said “it’s the most beautiful thing to watch”.
I’m A Celebrity winner Thompson also offered his key piece of advice to this year’s contestants getting ready to enter the jungle.
What, how, and why?
Sam Thompson has said he couldn’t be prouder of his best mate Pete Wicks for his performances in Strictly, revealing that the reality star has gone from not really caring about the show to thinking of himself as a dancer.
Thompson told Lorraine on Monday that Wicks, who dances with Jowita Przystal in the BBC series, now “adores” Strictly after fully buying into its hype.
He said: “He’s loving it. He’s adoring it, and I don’t think he expected to, to be fair. It’s funny about Strictly, everyone always says the same thing – it’s the most amazing thing ever. Pete will say I genuinely didn’t think I was going to enjoy this, it wasn’t a dream of mine to do this show, I never really cared, they asked me and I thought, what an amazing experience, I’ll do it.
Read more: Strictly Come Dancing
“He is now completely turned and he’s like I’m a dancer. He adores it. It’s the most beautiful thing to watch. As a best mate I’ve got to say I’m so proud of him, because that is what the show’s about, it’s about someone who has never danced before.”
Thompson is regularly in the audience watching Wicks on the dancefloor and said he felt he owed him the support after Wicks flew to Australia to greet him on the way out of the I’m A Celebrity camp last year.
“He came to Australia for a good month to be with me and I couldn’t believe he was doing that for me so I have to go to as many shows as I possibly can,” he said. “He actually gave me a weekend off, I was like thank you, they’re long shows.”
Thompson added that he was thinking of dressing up as Scooby-Doo to watch this weekend’s Halloween Strictly show and said: “We don’t want to put him off – well we do, it’s quite fun to be fair. Sometimes he’ll look at me and be like shut up.”
Wicks and Thompson also host hugely successful podcast Staying Relevant together which has sold out shows on a live tour and even enjoyed three nights at the Apollo, but Thompson revealed it had initially been a hard sell to his friend.
He said: “I’ll be honest, it took a while to convince Pete. When I wanted to do that podcast it was a year in the making. I was like please, I know it will do well. He was like no, I can’t be bothered, if they’re not paying I’m not playing.”
What did Sam Thompson say about I’m A Celebrity?
Thompson is the reigning King of the Jungle and had one top tip for any campmates taking part in this year’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!.
He said: “I’m the biggest fan of that show. Meeting Ant and Dec for the first time – I’ll say this to anyone joining, just enjoy your time with Ant and Dec. When you get to meet them, they’ve been it doing it for 20 years and when you meet them it’s like their first ever go. It’s the most amazing thing in the world.
“Enjoy the experience, forget you’re on camera and live in the moment. And also, milk it afterwards, tell everyone you’ve won.”
Lorraine airs on ITV1 at 9am on weekdays.
