Zara McDermott ‘pushed her petrified friend’ Pete Wicks to do Strictly (original) (raw)
What did you miss?
Pete Wicks has revealed his friend Zara McDermott "pushed" him to sign up for Strictly Come Dancing.
The TOWIE star is one of the hopefuls taking to the dancefloor in the upcoming series of the BBC ballroom show. He has now shared that he never thought he would do it but his good friend McDermott, who is dating his best friend Sam Thompson, was on Strictly in 2023 and encouraged him to say yes.
Speaking on Lorraine, Wicks admitted he was "petrified" about doing the show. Wicks opened up on Monday's instalment of the ITV programme (2 September), when host Lorraine Kelly asked if McDermott had given him any tips.
What, how and why?
"Zara has said to me, she's the one that kind of pushed me to do this because she loves the show," he replied. "I've been quite honest about the fact that I've never actually seen it.
"The first time I saw Strictly was the first live show last year when Zara on. And I just thought, 'Wow, this is amazing'. But I never imagined myself doing it, sequins and all that sort of stuff is not necessarily…"
Pete Wicks with his friend Zara McDermott and her boyfriend Sam Thompson. (Reuters)
"I am petrified," Wicks went on, admitting that dancing may not be his forte.
"Do you know what, I'm like a Ferrari from the waist down and a Volvo from the waist up," he quipped. "The hips are there, but the top half don't move! I've got the hips but nothing else and I kind of feel like you need the whole body."
However, Wicks said he was "excited" about the competition too. "It's a brand new challenge," he said. "It's something that I never thought I'd do… it's all about new challenges."
Pete Wicks on ITV's Lorraine. (ITV screengrab)
Zara McDermott's Strictly experience
McDermott was a contestant on last year's show and was paired with pro Graziano Di Prima, with the pair becoming the fifth couple to be eliminated.
Then this summer Di Prima was axed from the programme's 2024 line-up after it emerged that he was alleged to have kicked McDermott during rehearsals. The Love Island star broke her silence to say she had "wrestled" with herself over speaking out and she said seeing the footage of the incident back had been "incredibly distressing".
Dr Prima apologised, with his spokesman telling the BBC: "There is never a time when kicking, or any sense of that is right. And he knows that. He knows he's made a mistake. He apologised at the time."
Zara McDermott and Graziano Di Prima on Strictly. (BBC)
The dancer later told the Daily Mail he had not meant to kick McDermott. "The only thing I can think of is the time I kicked the floor in frustration... I wasn't meaning to kick her," he said. "I'd never, never do that. My foot brushed her after I kicked the floor. Afterwards I hugged her and said I was sorry."