EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick is feeling the heat as he prepares to take to the dancefloor for Strictly Come Dancing 2024.
Speaking to What To Watch on the red carpet at the National Television Awards 2024 on Wednesday night — where EastEnders was up for Best Serial Drama — Jamie admitted winning last year's Strictly Christmas Special has ramped up the pressure as he gears up to take part in the main series when it returns on Saturday night.
"Doing the Christmas show adds a lot of pressure, to be honest," said Jamie, who plays Jay Brown in the soap. "But, saying that, it's been really good so far. I'm enjoying training, it's hard work. I ache and it's tough, but really good.
"I'm most nervous about dancing live in front of the nation, but I'm trying to forget about it. I'm just trying to think of it as just a performance to the audience and that's it. Hopefully, we'll have a laugh, whatever happens."
Many of Jamie's EastEnders' co-stars have appeared on Strictly — but has anyone given him any advice?
"Scott Maslen just said to eat everything, so I'm just going to do that, then burn it off in training!"
And is he looking forward to donning all the sequins and having spray tans? "Not the spray tans, no. I like my pale look," he joked. "But as far as everything else goes, all the costumes, I'm really look forward to it."
After lifting the Strictly Silver Star trophy at Christmas for his Quickstep with professional partner Nancy Xu, has Jamie already got his eye on the glitterball?
"I'm not really thinking about it yet," he admitted. "I just want to really enjoy the experience. Everyone else who's doing the show is brilliant and we've all formed a really nice group. It's gonna be a fantastic series."
Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday September 14 at 7.20pm on BBC One.
