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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Victoria Hislop

A moment that changed me: I was heading for disaster on the Greek version of Strictly. Then instinct kicked in

Publicity shot of a man and a woman ballroom dancing surrounded by stage lights
‘I forgot almost every move’ … Hislop with her dance partner, Tilemachos Fatsis, on Greek TV’s Dancing With the Stars in 2021. Composite: Publicity image

It was an invitation I accepted in a moment of madness – and, over the next three months, regretted many times a day. I was in over my head, often with my heels literally over my head: I’d signed up to appear on the Greek version of Strictly Come Dancing.

Dancing With the Stars, as it is called in Greece, follows the same format as its UK counterpart, with an identical studio, a matching shiny floor, even many of the same costumes that are hired out and circulated among the 70 or more international versions of the BBC show. Of course, it’s all in Greek – and in the season I took part in, Covid restrictions had been imposed, which intensified its strangeness.

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