Dedicated Strictly favourite Hamza Yassin is happy to chill to kill it on the dance floor.
Last week the wildlife cameraman earned a near perfect 39 for his salsa but capturing the nation’s heart and the judges’ approval has come at a price.
Each night he has to take ice baths to revive his exhausted body. He said: “I’m literally freezing my glitterballs!”
Hamza, 32, said: “I started off with bad knees, and the knees are slowly getting better.
“But each week, it’s a different part of the body that hates me. There’s loads of aching bits.
“I’ve been having ice baths to try and recover, I sit in them for 45 minutes every evening, until the ice melts, and then get up and have a shower.”
Sudan-born Hamza was a relative unknown before Strictly but is now the bookies’ favourite to win the hit
series and fans love him.
Hamza, who is Ranger Hamza on kids’ TV channel CBeebies and works on BBC shows such as Countryfile and Animal Park, said: “I didn’t know I had it in me and I didn’t expect this reaction.
“When I first got announced as the 13th contestant, a lot of people were like, ‘Who? A BBC cameraman?’ But I love the support.”
As he rises on the Strictly scoreboard, his weight is falling. He is losing a kilo a week and it’s certainly given him a spring in his step.
He said the secret to his dance floor success is his unique way of learning steps. “I think my dyslexia helps me in my dancing, because my partner Jowita [Przystal] will show me a video of what I’m doing wrong and what it needs to look like.
“I think in 3D. If you take me for a four-hour car journey, for example, I can bring you back without knowing the place. It’s my superpower.
“I want anyone watching who has dyslexia to see it as a gift not a hindrance.” Hamza hopes being on the show will inspire others. He said: “Inclusivity, that’s what I like about dance, anybody can do it. No matter how small, big, large, tall, short, you can do it. I’ve fallen in love with it.”
To mark the BBC’s 100th birthday, Hamza and Jowita Przystal, 28, did a quickstep to On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons tonight.
