STRICTLY Come Dancing contestant Kelvin Fletcher turned up the heat with a sizzling samba in the opening show – yet his dance history has now come to light.
The Emmerdale actor is by no means a newcomer to the dancefloor, having been trained in ballet since the age of eight.
The revelation might well come as a shock to fans of the BBC One show, who may not be aware of the 35-year-old’s lengthy training in the dance form.
Kelvin, who plays bad boy farmer Andy Sugden in the ITV soap, candidly broke the news to Attitude magazine, where he told how he had been labelled a “poof”, a derogatory term for a homosexual, prior to his stint on Emmerdale.
He said: “Yeah I had the poof thing before the acting because I did ballet.
“I was eight years old and I was playing rugby for my local club.
“I was having trials for my town team, but Tuesday I was doing ‘good toes, naughty toes.’
“I was always like that.
“I always liked dancing and you’d go to class and find you had an hour acting and an hour of ballet.
I didn’t mind the poofter jibes.”
Meanwhile on Saturday, Kelvin mastered a very different dance form with professional partner Oti Mabuse, as they tackled the samba to La Vida Es Un Carnaval by Celia Cruz.
The judges also raved about the impressive moves, with Bruno Tonioli calling it the best opening Samba he’d seen in 15 years of being a telly judge.
And it was reflected in the scoring, with Kelvin and Oti scoring a leaderboard topping 32 points.
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Viewers’ pulses raced watching the routine, with one writing: “Here am sat watching strictly with me Mam just so I can see Michelle Visage and Kelvin Fletcher coming out like that being able to move his body like that I am dripping with sweat while my mam is sat beside me help.”
Kelvin certainly put the work in before the performance.
He previously revealed his bum was in agony after just two days training for the BBC show.
Buff Kelvin, who was drafted in as a last-minute replacement following Jamie Laing’s injury, confessed his backside has suffered and it felt like he’d done 100 squats.
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