Rosie Ramsey is the first celebrity confirmed for the Strictly Christmas special
(Picture: PA)Rosie Ramsey and Rickie Haywood-Williams have become the first contestants to be revealed for the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special.
Podcaster Ramsey will be partnered with professional dancer Neil Jones while DJ and presenter Haywood-Williams has been paired with Luba Mushtuk as they join four other celebrity couples to compete to win the festive version of the popular dance show.
Ramsey co-hosts the award-winning podcast S*****d Married Annoyed with her husband, comedian Chris Ramsey, who competed in the 2019 series of Strictly, when he reached the semi-final.
When her participation was revealed on BBC Morning Live, she told the programme: “I watched Chris do it in 2019. I was insanely jealous. So as soon as I got asked to do this, I just grabbed it with both hands.
“[Chris is] giving me tips and he’s just kind of understanding that it is difficult, but he could not dance at all when he started and he did so so well.”
✨🎄 Rosie Ramsey's ready for the"Best. Christmas. Ever!" as she takes to the ballroom in #Strictly Come Dancing's Christmas Special
— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) November 30, 2022
"After watching my husband Chris compete a few years ago, I’ve been desperate to get on that dance floor myself!"
More ➡️ https://t.co/Poc39fsOUF pic.twitter.com/Fd0Yna3Cgk
She added: “(The training is) really hard. I have got so much more respect for anyone who’s ever taken part in the show over all of the years. It’s a lot. It’s a lot of cardio, let’s put it that way.”
Ramsey also hopes that having Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood as a guest on her show might mean he will let her off “some dodgy knee turns.”
“You never know with Craig, do you? You just never, ever know how he’s going judge it or whether he’s going like it or not. I watch the show with my seven-year-old, Robin, and he loves Craig, but he’s also terrified that he’s going to give (me) a really bad score,” she joked.
Ramsey said she used to dance in a cabaret band at holiday parks and was a Bluecoat at Pontins resorts, adding: “I think… I can move my feet – let’s put it that way.”
Haywood-Williams previously presented the KISS FM breakfast show for 10 years before moving to the BBC, where he currently presents BBC Radio 1’s iconic Live Lounge show with Strictly alum Melvin Odoom and Charlie Hedges. He also hosts the BBC Sounds hit podcast the Footballers’ Football podcast.
Sharing the news that he had signed up for Strictly during Wednesday’s edition the Rickie, Melvin & Charlie show on BBC Radio 1, he told his co-hosts: “I have watched Strictly over the years and always said I’d be too scared to do it. But here I am ready to go for it, sequins n’ all.”
