Amy Dowden and JB Gill managed to impress the judges over the weekend with their American Smooth, which they danced in honour of Movie Week to Pure Imagination from Wonka.
The pair scored a respectable 32 out of 40, and the judges noted Gill’s promising dancing ability, with Shirley Ballas beaming: “You definitely are showing great signs of a ballroom dancer.”
This year marks the 20th series of the beloved show, but the 2024 competition is also celebratory for Welsh choreographer Dowden, as the 34-year-old made a return to Strictly after last year’s absence.
Dowden couldn’t take part in the 2023 series as she underwent cancer treatment, and after a harrowing year, she was delighted to be able to take part in the current show.
She shared her delight over the milestone and her happiness to be paired with Gill in a recent post.
The duo joined host Fleur East on Tuesday’s Strictly spin-off show, It Takes Two, where they made an admission about their upcoming Strictly performance, with Dowden confessing Gill and the rumba are “not friends”.
“Well, you made it through to week four, and you’ll be doing a rumba to this…” East commented as Kara Marni’s You Might Need Somebody played out in the studio.
East continued: “Now it’s no secret Amy, how much you love the rumba. How can you make sure that JB falls for it too?”
“So at the moment, I would say that the rumba and JB are not friends,” the dancer confessed sheepishly.
“But by the end of the week, they’re going to be in love,” she added, reassuring her celebrity partner.
Turning to Gill, she enthused: “And we’re just using one word aren’t we, this week?” at which point Gill stated: “Sensual.”
Reflecting on other rumbas this year’s competition has already seen, East explained: “We’ve seen two rumbas so far, Jamie [Borthwick] and Tasha [Ghouri] brought something really different to theirs.”
Piling on the pressure, she probed: “How is your rumba going to be different?”
“I think it’s exactly that – you know, for us trying to establish the connection, I feel like we have a great connection,” Gill answered.
Expressing his appreciation for Dowden, he added: “It’s a brilliant partnership, certainly from my point of view, and I’m sure Amy will agree.
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“Everything we’ve done so far, we’ve just been able to build on the week before.
Express his own hope for the dance, he continued: “So it’s just a case of bringing that into this dance, connection, being able to get that across the screen and for people to just enjoy and fall in love as much as I hope we will fall in love with this routine.”
Taking to social media after Saturday’s dance, Dowden’s poignant post saw fans branded her a “superhero” in the comments section.
She shared two side-by-side snaps, one of her, on Saturday night, glammed up for her film-inspired look and another of her appearing on Strictly while undergoing treatment as a special guest last year.
