Will Olympic cycling champion Victoria Pendleton see off the competition on the Strictly dance floor? Team GB’s Olympic cycling champion Victoria Pendleton hits the dance floor with professional partner Brendan Cole on Friday, October 5 in the first live show of the 10th anniversary series of Strictly Come Dancing. TV&Satellite Week caught up with her to find out more how she is managing the switch from the podium to the paso doble... Retiring after the Olympics was always going to make me feel a bit lost... Having something like this to focus on rather than wondering ‘what do I do now?’ is a great thing. I don’t know if I’ll cry at the end of Strictly... Being tearful at the Games was about relief. When you work so hard for something and it finally comes together, you can’t help but get emotional. There’s a lot less pressure on me in Strictly than there was in the Velodrome... I’m just going to enjoy it. If I last a couple of weeks, I’ll be really pleased. I’m looking forward to getting to dress glamorously... I’m used to wearing a skin suit, tying my hair back and looking sweaty and dishevelled. Brendan’s still going to see that side of me in training. I’m annoyed they’ve put another athlete in the contest... Especially since it’s Louis Smith, who can probably dance loads better than I can. He’s going to be a very strong contender and has some serious skills. He’ll go further than me in the competition, I think. After this, expectations will be high for my first dance with my fiance Scott at our wedding... Scott is already feeling the pressure, but I reckon he’s quite good and has more dance skills than me. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do after this... I’d like to spend a year doing different things and will hopefully find something I enjoy enough to want to pursue it.
