Strictly Come Dancing heart-throbs Artem Chigvintsev, Pasha Kovalev and Aljaz Skorjanec reveal all about their experience to TV Times magazine... Just don't mention rhinestone!
Hi Aljaz! Are you enjoying your Strictly experience so far?
"Yes, everything’s so professional. Being part of a big show like this keeps you on your toes and makes you want to get better and better. My personal highlight to date is when Aliona Vilani and I performed with Andrea Bocelli during the Love-themed week Results Show. I’d always hoped to watch him in concert so to share a stage and meet him was a dream come true."
How are you finding the teaching aspect?
"I’ve taught before, but always groups of people doing social dances, so this is something new and I’m still in the learning process. I did the Slovenian version of Strictly, but doing this in English, my second language, is difficult. My aim is to make Abbey as good as I possibly can, and make sure she has fun."
What’s Abbey like as a partner?
"I was shocked actually because everyone has those perceptions of models not doing anything except photoshoots, but Abbey’s a lot of fun and is always willing to work when we get into the rehearsal room. She’s really good at learning steps, so it’s a pleasure to work with her. She has a bit of trouble concentrating for more than two minutes, but we’re still working on that!"
Do you enjoy the sparkly costumes?
"It looks great on camera and that’s the important thing. You need to make sure you feel happy with what you’re wearing, which is why we communicate with the wardrobe department constantly. All the costumes I’ve worn so far I’m really happy with - and I hope that’s the case in the future!"
And Artem, it’s the frighteningly good Halloween-themed week on Strictly this Saturday. Do you have a ball working on this one?
"I absolutely love it - it’s the best week on Strictly! To me, it’s better than the final because you have to come up a concept, and if that’s strong enough, you can make simple choreography look amazing."
What else do you enjoy about being on the show?
"Outfits, definitely. Just kidding! I enjoy teaching. Making someone more of a dancer than they actually are is a lovely thing to do, and it makes you proud. Strictly has changed my life completely because I’m doing what I love and its being appreciated by millions of people, which is something you never usually get to experience."
What do you really think of the costumes then?
"I hate rhinestones, I’ve never liked them!"
Fair enough! How do you feel about being partnered with Natalie?
"I described myself as having the winning lottery ticket. We get on really well. The main thing for me is someone’s work ethic, and Natalie’s is better than mine, she puts me to shame!"
What’s your teaching style?
"Over the years you learn how to do this job. Growing up in Russia, it’s very strict teaching in general so that’s how I taught the first year - unfortunately for my girlfriend Kara! But I’ve since learned people respond to things differently according to their personality so you need to adapt."
Of the current professionals, you, Ola Jordan and Brendan Cole have won the glitterball trophy before. Could you make history as the first pro to lift it twice?
"To be honest, it’s never been about the glitterball. It’s about delivering a performance that people will love each week and if we can make the audience like us through our dancing, that’s more than I can ask for."
And Pasha, are you pleased to be partnering Rachel?
"I was very excited to be paired with her. We have a lot of fun rehearsing. She’s never danced before so in that respect we have a challenge because we have to build everything up from scratch. But I enjoy the challenge in finding the keys to make a celebrity dance their best."
You’ve reached the final twice before. Hoping for third time lucky?
"Honestly, I take one week at a time, you are only as good as your last dance. So glitterball is there, it would be great to have it, but there are a lot of things you need to do on the way to it that are more important."
Do you have any dancing superstitions?
"I never wear brand new socks! They need to have been worn before, but obviously clean. I don’t even know where it came from, it’s just been in my mind since I was competing as a little kid."
Do you like wearing the sequins?
"I grew up with it so the more sparkles the better! I love dressing up for dancing, not necessarily going crazy, but it helps you get into the character and mood. Chelsee and I did a Shrek-inspired routine for Movie Week and that was most fun because I had a green mask. It took forever to put on, though, a lot of green-coloured make-up and glue! "
You must be looking forward to Halloween week, then?
"It’s fun, you can get away with things you wouldn’t normally wear or try in any other week. You can have crazy make-up and hair and completely off-the-wall costumes, and it’ll actually benefit the dance. Last year I was a werewolf, but I came out a kind of funny werewolf in my opinion, I wanted to be scarier!"
