It doesn’t take long for the favourites to emerge in Strictly Come Dancing – and this year, the contest feels more open than ever.
Week one saw former Lioness Karen Carney and Emmerdale actor Lewis Cope mark themselves as ones to watch after delivering phenomenal jives, while Amber Davies wowed with a waltz despite having less than 24 hours to learn the routine.
In week two, three totally different celebs landed themselves podium spots on the leaderboard, throwing the competition wide open. Casualty actress Alex Kingston went top after breaking the curse of the samba, social media star George Clarke pulled off a powerful paso doble for second and EastEnders actress Balvinder Sopal completed the trio thanks to an energetic Charleston.
Elsewhere, the judges also named another one to watch – who is the celebrity I’d love to see win: Vicky Pattison.
She might not be the best dancer just yet, but that could work to her advantage. Strictly viewers (myself included) love to watch a celebrity go on a journey of sorts. With a combined week one and two score of 47, Pattison is solidly mid-table – leaving plenty of room to grow as the series goes on.
And while high-scoring dances obviously help contestants go far, it’s usually their personality and story that really help pull in the votes when the final is in touching distance. And when it comes to those two attributes, Pattison has plenty to offer.
The TV personality has freely admitted to being one of the most nervous participants in this year’s series. But you wouldn’t have known it if you just watched her foxtrot with pro partner Kai Widdrington, which was set to a Sam Fender track in a homage to her home city of Newcastle.
“You could be a ballroom queen,” Anton du Beke declared, before Shirley Ballas made the unusual choice of directing her advice at Widdrington. “This girl could possibly go all way,” she said. “But you cannot babysit. I think she’s got the ability. Let her keep up with you.”
It was clear how much the comments meant to Pattison as she spoke to Claudia Winkleman shortly afterwards. Fighting tears, she said she “hadn’t really done a lot an awful lot of stuff to make the north east proud… especially at the start of my career”.
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“It feels freally nice to be able to turn a corner on Strictly […] and maybe make my friends and family proud,” Pattison added.
The start she’s referring to is, of course, her warts-and-all rise to fame on Geordie Shore, MTV’s often X-rated and raucous contribution to the British reality TV boom of the early 2010s. Pattison, now 37, has previously shared regrets about some of her behaviour on the programme (namely having sex on TV) and her comments on Saturday gave us a glimpse at how much Strictly means.
It seems the show is offering Pattison something of a redemption arc, a chance to show the nation – and herself – how she’s changed in the 14 years since she arrived on our screens.
The candour and wit that made Pattison one of Geordie Shore’s breakout – and most successful – stars is shining through in the ballroom. It’s impossible not to love her hilarious and frank quips, and I imagine that as the series goes on – just like when Pattison triumphed on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! In 2015 – she’ll win over more and more viewers every week. And I couldn’t be more here for it.
