On Monday, Blue member Lee Ryan was confirmed as one of the celebrities taking part in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. His participation was announced on ITV’s Loose Women.
He has no previous dance experience
Talking on ITV’s ‘Loose Women’ on Monday morning, a very nervous Lee Ryan stated that, despite training at the world-famous performing arts school Italia Conti, he has very little dance experience.
I used to run out of my dance lessons – that’s why I can sing and not dance. I am nervous..
He went on to talk about how much of a change Strictly will be compared to the dancing he is used to doing on stage with Blue.
We [Blue] lean and there is maybe a shoulder or two.
On the show, Lee will compete against fourteen other celebrities, including YouTuber Joe Sugg, Steps member Faye Tozer, cricketer Graeme Swann and former Pussycat Dolls member Ashley Roberts.
All Rise for our 12th #Strictly 2018 celeb, Lee Ryan! 🙌 💙 @OfficialLeeRyan https://t.co/PM0SVCcL8U pic.twitter.com/Mqf5UOcE3Q
— BBC Strictly ✨ (@bbcstrictly) August 20, 2018
Eurovision stars in Strictly Come Dancing
Lee isn’t the first former Eurovision star to take part in Strictly Come Dancing. He’s actually the third Eurovision star to take to the dancefloor.
Lulu, who won the 1969 contest for the UK with the song, “Boom Bang-a-Bang”, took part in series nine of the competition, partnered by Brendan Cole. She was eliminated in week 6 of the contest.
Ireland’s representative from 2016, Nicky Byrne, took part in the following series of Strictly faring a little better than Lulu, finishing in 6th place with his partner Karen Clifton. At Eurovision, he finished to qualify for the final with his song “Sunlight”.
Finally, the latest Eurovision performer to take part in the show was Lee’s fellow band member, Simon Webbe, who finished as runner-up in the 12th series with his professional partner, Kristina Rihanoff. This, to date, is the best result for a Eurovision star in Strictly. The UK’s semi-final commentator, Scott Mills, also took part in the same series as Simon, being eliminated in the fifth week of the show.
Blue scored the UK’s third-best result of the century
Lee Ryan, along with his band Blue, took part in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf, Germany for the United Kingdom with the song “I Can”, finishing in 11th place with 100 points, thus being the country’s third-best result of the 21st century after Jessica Garlick in 2002 who finished in third place and Jade Ewen in 2009 who finished in fifth place. The band also scored one set of 12 points from Bulgaria.
As well as performing in the contest, Lee also took part in the UK’s national final for the 2005 contest as a songwriter – he wrote Andy Scott-Lee’s entry “Guardian Angel”, which finished in 3rd place. The national final that year was won by Javine Hylton with “Touch My Fire”.
Are you excited to see Lee Ryan take part in Strictly Come Dancing? Will you be supporting him?
Let us know in the comments below or on social media @ESCXTRA.
