Shirley Ballas has admitted that she and the rest of the Strictly Come Dancing judges were “caught off guard” by Pete Wicks’ skin-tight pink trousers in his performance at Blackpool.
The Strictly head judge told Monday’s Loose Women that Wicks’ revealing look had left her “in a bit of a flutter” on Saturday night, but praised him for always giving his best to each dance routine.
Ballas, who was on the ITV1 show to talk about bladder leaks and the importance of pelvic floor exercises, added that she had struggled with the issue herself and said “at my age, everything is falling apart”.
Strictly’s head judge Shirley Ballas was visibly flustered on Saturday night as Pete Wicks took to the Blackpool Tower Ballroom in a pair of incredibly tight, hot pink trousers to dance the Cha Cha to I’m Too Sexy with Jowita Przystal.
Now, she had told Loose Women that she was “caught off guard” by the outfit as she expressed her admiration for the Towie star and the effort he has put into learning to dance.
Ballas said of his much-talked-about trousers: “I think it got everybody into a bit of a flutter. The thing about Pete is he gives 100%. When he started at the beginning of the show as with most of them you don’t know where people are going to go on their journey. What I love about him is he embraces anything that is thrown at him.
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“I think he realises he’s not the best Cha Cha Cha dancer in the world, so we go for a little bit of a Ann Widdecombe kind of vibe, feel, bit of fun going on there. He takes his work very seriously but he doesn’t take himself seriously.”
However, she added: “But he did catch us all off guard, I have to say. Motsi (Mabuse) was giving me a little (prod) under the table.”
Ballas also encouraged the audience to vote so she wouldn’t be left with a difficult choice for eliminations, which are decided by her alone if the judging panel are tied in their opinions.
Asking viewers to make sure they vote, she said: “Please make my job easier, please. I always hope that the judges will agree. It’s heartbreaking.”
She added of the dance routines: “What you see at home and what I see in the studio are two different things. You might see the passion and the love and the spinning round – I see the feet. I also don’t see the graphics.”
Ballas was a guest on Monday’s loose women to talk about what she labelled the “taboo subject” of bladder leaks in women.
She talked about the importance of pelvic floor exercises and admitted that she had “struggled” with bladder leaks after giving birth and during the menopause.
“When you get to my age, everything starts falling apart,” she added. “Sagging, dropping, falling.”
Proud grandma Ballas also opened up on her close bond with her son Mark, a ballroom dancer who starred in Dancing with the Stars in America, and how he helps her to stay in touch with her grandson.
She said: “I have the best son in the whole world, he Facetimes me every single day even if it’s just for five or 10 minutes.”
Ballas continued: “I’m so proud of that child. He was a guest judge on Dancing with the Stars a couple of weeks ago and he occupied the same seat in the United States that I occupy here in Great Britain. It was the most fun week of my whole life, putting his clothing together and sharing.”
Loose Women airs on ITV1 at 12.30pm on weekdays.
