While plenty of celebrities have said the idea of their spouse watching them up close and personal with their professional partner has put them off signing up for Strictly Come Dancing, it seems Fleur East is not one of them.
In fact, the former X Factor finalist has revealed that her husband Marcel is so supportive of her Strictly journey that he’s encouraging her to turn up the heat when she performs her Argentine Tango at the weekend.
Speaking on her Hits Radio breakfast show, Fleur revealed: “[The Argentine Tango is] very hot and steamy and obviously it’s really hard to get into the mode of that!
“It’s quite awkward when you’re in rehearsals. It’s like ‘this is weird’. But we both said we need to do one where we fully go for it, and we commit to that passion and that emotion.
“So we went for it – and it was quite intense – and my husband Marcel was there watching and at the end of the dance he went ‘hmmm… More!’. I was like ‘What? Are you sure?!’. He said, ‘you need to commit to this and you need to give it 100%’.”
Fleur and her dance partner Vito Coppola are hoping to bounce back after landing in the dance-off for the first time last week, with Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke all voting to send Richie Anderson home over the Sax singer.
However, Shirley Ballas admitted she would have saved Richie over Fleur, which caused something of a controversy among Strictly viewers, with the Head Judge revealing she’s received a wave of abuse online in recent days.
Sticking up for Shirley, Fleur recently told The Mirror:
“I think it’s really unfair, actually. I have the utmost respect for all the judges.
“But Shirley…if you’ve not seen her dance, she’s incredible. So, any time I stand there I’m like ‘Just give me the notes, what do I have to do?’.”