Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Amy Dowden has spent time with her celebrity Strictly partner outside of rehearsals. The dancer was partnered with Thomas Skinner for the latest series.
The former Apprentice contestant and TV personality was thrilled to be partnered with Amy. He said on the launch show over the weekend: “I’m over the moon honestly. Ame’s a legend, I’m over the moon. She’s inspirational. I’m hoping you can teach me a few moves because I’m useless at the minute.”
All fifteen partnerships have been announced as Amy Dowden and Thomas Skinner go head-to-head with the likes of Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Karen Hauer, George Clarke and Alexis Warr, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Lauren Oakley and Stefan Dennis and Dianne Buswell.
Amy and Thomas have been bonding ahead of the first live show this Saturday, September 27. Sharing videos and photos from Amy’s time meeting his family, Thomas wrote: “Happy Tuesday you lovely people! Had my lovely Strictly partner @amy_dowden come over and meet my little family after we finished training today. My Kids absolutely LOVE Amy.
“She is so good with them, they love her to bits. Bless them. Sinéad made us a double lovely dinner and they are gonna be friends for life. So glad we got introduced to this little Welsh superstar, she is fantastic.”
It is back to reality for the Strictly contestants today, September 24. Thomas wrote: “Back to training tomorrow morning [today]. I am not letting Amy down, I am gonna work so hard and can’t wait for you to all see my live dance this Saturday night.
“Also absolutely gutted that my little mate @danidyerxx has had to pull out due to an injury today. Wishing you all a wonderful evening. Sending love to you and ya families. Keep on going. Bosh.”
Amy was grateful for the opportunity to get to know Thomas and his family better, she responded to the post “Lovely evening, thank you.”
Thomas has had a controversial start to his time on the BBC dance show. Earlier this month he walked out of a press event midway through. The 34-year-old picked up a journalist’s phone before leaving the interview.
He has since explained the reason for his actions, as he said his departure from the event was not related to the BBC dancing show, and claimed he did so as he had seen messages about his past on the reporter’s phone.
In a post on Instagram and X, he said: “To set the record straight off the back of yesterday. During one of the interviews, a journalist placed their phone on the table to record the conversation. I happened to catch a glimpse of the screen and saw numerous messages – not about Strictly – but about a personal story from my past.
“I’ve been through some difficult times in my life, which I’ve worked hard to move on from. In that moment, seeing it there caught me off guard. I felt it was best to step away and gather myself.
“This had nothing to do with the interviews or Strictly itself. I’m sorry I picked up someone else’s phone and I don’t even know if the journalist realised their messages were visible, and I don’t want to suggest any bad intentions on their part.
“What I do want to say is how excited I am to be part of Strictly this year. I’m so grateful for all the love, kindness and support I’ve been shown so far. It means the world to me, and I can’t wait to give it my all on that dancefloor. Bosh.” The dad-of-three has drawn strong criticism for several of his social media posts in the past.