When this year's Strictly Come Dancing began, comedian and actor Jayde Adams told millions of viewers that if you cut her open she'd have 'Bristol' on one side and 'Strictly' on the other like a stick of rock - and she was not lying.
For while Jayde might not be the most household-name-famous of the 15 celebrities donning the sequins with the professionals for the 2022 season of Strictly Come Dancing, she may well be the one who has been born to be a Strictly star.
And since starting the how last month she has hit the dance floor running and really showcased both her personality and dancing skills, winning over the British public with her Flashdance themed Cha Cha Cha, and her emotional American smooth performance to Wind Beneath My Wings in honour of her late sister Jenna
Read more: Strictly star Jayde Adams fights back the tears after 'overwhelming' first performance
The comedian's journey to the Strictly dancefloor began at her auntie Jackie's freestyle disco dancing club in Henbury, went around the regional and national competitions, took in working with her mum at Asda in Bedminster, and then university in South Wales, before an eclectic career as an Adele impersonator, drag queen cabaret MC and the 'vicar' at an inflatable church.
Strictly arrived just as Jayde Adams has broken out of being a big player on the stand up circuit, into comic and serious acting, and TV presenting. As she goes mainstream, she also moved back to Bristol after living in London for more than a decade.
Jayde's story began in South Bristol. Born into a family of tradesmen - her dad and brother are renovating her new home back on her old stomping ground in Bedminster - and she went to primary school locally before attending St Mary Redcliffe and Temple school, just across Bedminster Bridge.
In a documentary for the BBC West series We Are England, she visited the school again with her old school friend and revealed that she got the buzz for performing by finding a haven in the school's music room, hanging out there during breaks and lunchtimes and after school, writing and performing musical theatre.
Throughout her whole childhood, she was dancing - attending the dance school in a community hall in Henbury with her sister Jenna and her friends. They would train weekly and spend weekends competing, although Jayde recently admitted that she was more enthusiastic than graceful, and her sister Jenna had the real talent.
As a teenager, she attended several youth theatre groups in the city, including the Bristol Old Vic Youth Theatre, but never formally trained in acting or singing. She had a range of jobs, including joining her mum - a stalwart for 20 or more years working at Asda in Bedminster - and worked behind the fish counter there for a short while, before heading off to the University of Glamorgan to study Drama, Theatre and Media when she was 19.
She came back to work in a local pub - the Star and Dove in Totterdown - and the very first time she appeared in the pages of the Bristol Evening Post (that we can find, anyway) was when the pub launched Saturday food markets to 'bring customers back after the smoking ban' in 2007.
She soon moved to London, and found a home in the city's Drag Queen circuit, and did a range of jobs while pursuing her showbiz dream. She MCd drag nights and festivals, and got a job compering the ceremonies in an inflatable church that toured festivals.
But by then, her older sister Jenna was very poorly with a brain tumour, and in 2011 passed away, after telling Jayde to go for her dream of being a stand up comedian and entertainer.
She took up stand up comedy with gusto, later explaining how the feeling that she was living her life for Jenna after her passing spurred her on more. By the following year, she was nominated by Time Out magazine as their wildcard for The Hospital Club, London h.Club 100 Awards list of 'Most Influential Person in the Arts' and the following year, won an audience vote for the London Cabaret Awards. Another year later, and her stand up act was gaining bigger recognition, winning the Funny Women Awards at the Leicester Square Theatre.
After years of touring the country with her stand up shows and becoming an Edinburgh Fringe stalwart, she broke into TV presenting with Channel 4 like Snackmasters and Crazy Delicious before establishing her acting credentials with Good Omens and Alma's Not Normal.
In 2021, she decided to move back to Bristol, telling Bristol Live why she was coming home after ten years. Her move back West then became the subject of a BBC We Are England programme, where she revisited her school and dance school, as well as her old haunts in Bedminster.
Now, after touring her sell-out comedy show Serious Black Jumper, Jayde jumped at the chance to do Strictly, confessing she was a 'superfan' of the show.
At 6ft 2ins, Jayde's size led her naturally to choose a female partner, and has been teamed up with Strictly professional dancer legend Karen Hauer. She said given her background dancing with Jenna, it was an obvious choice, telling Digital Spy: "I think my partnership with Karen is more about sisterhood, and if you’re in the dance world, which I was as a child, the sort of all-girl and all-male partnerships (are) quite commonplace.
“Also, to be honest with you, if I was in a male partnership, show me one of the lads that’s lifting me. I’m now going to be able to throw Karen Hauer around that dance floor. She’s going over my head, I don’t care!” she joked.
“Obviously, it’s a new thing in these dance shows, the one that’s in Australia and the one that’s in America, but I think the world is changing and to me, it just doesn’t seem like anything that’s abnormal,” she said. “It seems like a completely natural thing."
Jayde's Journey - read next:
- Bristol's Jayde Adams steals the Strictly launch show in same sex couple
- Funny and poignant documentary shows how Bristol's Jayde Adams is coming home
Strictly's Jayde Adams may have been underestimated by bookies
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