James Jordan's Strictly Preview: Week Two
Joshua Kerr 
Strictly Come Dancing hall of famer, James Jordan will be with us exclusively throughout the 2025 series, providing Free Bets with his expert insight, no holds barred opinion and his best bets.
James, what’s your reaction to Dani Dyer being forced to quit the show—what does this mean for Strictly overall, and do you think the producers will bring in another replacement celebrity?
Yeah, I mean, obviously I’m gutted for Dani. It’s horrible to have to pull out because of an injury, especially if it happened while dancing, from what I’ve heard, which is such a shame.
I feel sorry for her. I’m sure it’s a childhood dream to be on the show. And I feel for Nikita, too. On paper he had someone who could get to the final: she’s young, has dance training, she’s pretty, she seems funny, people would have liked her.
So yes, I do think it’s a loss for the show, but there are lots of other people out there. I don’t know why there’s this big panic about it, as if it’s, “Oh my God, what are we going to do?” Well, ask someone!
Either ask someone else to do it, or don’t eliminate a couple in the week someone would have gone home anyway. I just don’t see the big issue. Get someone else in. Someone would jump at the chance to do the show.
Is there a scenario where she could return in a later series?
It’s happened a couple of times before where people have had to pull out and they’ve been able to come back the next year. Because she hasn’t actually started the show. If she were halfway through, I’d say no, so there’s definitely an opportunity for her to return. It would be nice if she did.
How does it feel as a professional losing a partner, especially so close to the opening show?
He’ll (Nikita) be gutted, because he knows he had a great partner. She had a good social-media following, which would have boosted his profile and she was going to be good: she’s had dance training, she’s young, she’s popular, and I think they would have been a likeable couple. He’ll be as gutted as she is, because it would have been very good for his profile to be dancing with her.
Whether he gets another partner, I don’t know. It’s a pretty simple decision, isn’t it? You either bring someone in or you don’t. Those are the two options. We’ll just have to see what they do. Surely they must know by now.
All this talk about panic behind the scenes and the producers not knowing what to do. I don’t understand it. It’s not rocket science. If they need any help, they can give me a call and I’ll advise them!
Are there any celebrities this year that you could envisage partnering with if you were on this year’s series?
Maybe Alex Kingston. She and Johannes are an excellent match!
When the odds come out, do the professionals look at them—and is there much talk among the team before pairings are released?
Yeah. I remember back in the day when my wife Ola danced with Chris Hollins. They were favourites to go out in week one and they went on to win the show.
So odds don’t necessarily mean anything. I do think they get them more right nowadays because we know who’s had what dance training.
Back in the day it wasn’t as obvious. I don’t think Ross King is going to go out first. I’d put my house on him not going out first. I think it’ll be someone else.
Does that make Lewis Cope the person to beat?
Not even a question. He’s going to get to the final, especially with Katya, who’s great at choreography and getting the best out of her partners.
It does make a difference who you get. He’ll be in the final. I probably would have said Dani would be in the final as well.
Once I see the first show and how they all move, I get a much better idea. In the first couple of weeks I’m like, “Okay, they’re going to be really good.”
Looking at the partnerships, is there anyone who will benefit more than others just from who they’ve been paired with?Looking at the partnerships, is there anyone who will benefit more than others just from who they’ve been paired with?
I’d say Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. I think he’ll struggle, but he’s super lucky to have Lauren—she’s amazing. That pairing increases his chances of staying in. With someone else, odds might have had him going out early.
And obviously Lewis Cope getting Katya—he was going to be great whoever he was with, but with her he could be exceptional.
I’m also looking forward to seeing Stefan Dennis and Dianne—great partnership. Getting the right pro is very important. I don’t necessarily agree with all the pairings, but we’ll see what happens once the first show starts.
Do you think the show could do with new hosts? Is it at risk of getting stale with Tess and Claudia?
Maybe. I don’t know. I love both Tess and Claudia. I did like it when you had the male–female dynamic, because ballroom and Latin primarily feature a man dancing with a woman. Yes, there are same-sex couples now, but primarily it’s that traditional pairing.
If I had to choose one to go, I wouldn’t want to say, because I like them both. For me, I’d rather mix up the judging panel a bit. They haven’t changed it much in recent years.
I do think they need to cut a lot of the professional dancers, mix it up, bring in fresh blood, get more British dancers on there, and maybe change two of the judges as well, just to freshen it up.
Who would be your top five celebs you’d love to see on the show—and why?
That’s tough. I preferred it when there were more sportspeople and actors, whereas now it’s gone more towards YouTubers, podcasters, reality TV hosts, and drag performers.
I liked having what I’d call “proper celebs with proper skills,” not just people with big social followings to push the show. I know I’m old and the world has changed, but I want to see people I remember from the Olympics or TV.
Someone like Michelle Keegan would be fantastic. The other Danny Dyer (Dani’s dad) would be good, too. Not that he’d ever do it, but Piers Morgan, Jonathan Ross, or Jeremy Clarkson, those who wouldn’t take it seriously, but I’d like to see some proper “blokey blokes” again.
And more sports people from back in the day. I remember Sally Gunnell saying years ago she’d love to do Strictly but was never approached. I’d love to see people I used to watch on my screen.
What’s the most annoying thing celebrity dance partners do that winds up professionals?
For me, timekeeping. If I’ve travelled to them and I’m there on time, and they turn up half an hour late for a lesson, that’s my biggest gripe. I don’t like keeping people waiting. My time isn’t more important than anyone else’s.
Some celebrities just rock up whenever they want, do a couple of hours, and go home. You see it time and again, and usually they don’t do very well on the show.
I’ve been fortunate. Nearly all of mine were amazing and gave 100%. So nothing else really sticks out.
From that, who was the best partner you worked with who shared your work ethic?
Pamela Stephenson. She had a brilliant work ethic. Really, really good. She was one of the more mature celebrities, but her work ethic was fantastic.
We have ref-cam in football—would you like to see a “Dancer-cam” so viewers can get POV shots and angles they don’t normally see?
Not really. They used to do something years ago. Slow-mos of certain steps, which was quite interesting. They’d take a step from a routine, show it in slow motion, and talk about it. But when you slow things down, you can nitpick, even professional dancers.
I don’t see it working unless the judges say something technically wrong. Then, as a pro, I’d slow it down myself, post it on social media, and say, “Actually, they’re talking rubbish.” A lot of pros might be too scared to do that now. I never was.
Could you give us some insights into being a professional dancer? Is it as glamorous as TV makes out, or are there harsh realities viewers don’t see?
I don’t think many dancers start with the goal of going on Strictly. Maybe they do now, but back in my day I was in the middle of my professional career, competing, trying to be the best Latin dancer I could.
I was scouted by the BBC. At first I wasn’t that keen: I was living in Hong Kong, we’d just got back to competing, and the money on Strictly wasn’t fantastic. I was earning more doing my own thing. Then we decided to do the show.
Nowadays, because Strictly’s been going so long, maybe some dancers’ dream is to get on the show, and they dance with that goal in mind. It’s a hard business. You need to be in the right place at the right time, and you need to be very good. It’s not very lucrative for about 95% of dancers.
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