Strictly's Tasha Ghouri confesses dance rehearsals made her scream

The Love Island star revealed partner Aljaz Skorjanec spun her around too fast during practice.

Albertina Lloyd
·Contributor
Updated ·4-min read
Strictly Come Dancing's Tasha Ghouri
Strictly Come Dancing's Tasha Ghouri revealed rehearsing her spin for the American Smooth made her scream. (BBC)

Strictly Come Dancing 2024 contestant Tasha Ghouri has revealed she screamed the first time she rehearsed the American Smooth as she was spinning so fast.

The Love Island star and professional dance partner Aljaz Skorjanec scored a perfect for their dance to Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi on Saturday night's show.

But Ghouri – who is deaf and wears a cochlear implant – revealed the first time they practiced it the spin made her scream as Skorjanec turned her too fast.

Strictly Come Dancing Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz
Strictly's Tasha Ghouri closed her eyes for the spin in her American Smooth. (BBC)

Ghouri and Skorjanec appeared on Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two on Tuesday, 26 November and the author admitted she had to rehearse the dance with her eyes closed.

She told host Fleur East: "I remember the first time he spun me around, I literally was screaming and I was like he was going so fast. He was like,' I'm gonna go for it' and especially when my implant isn't in, it's something I really struggle with. So what I have to do is just close my eyes. So the whole time he was spinning me around, my eyes were closed and then I opened him for the going back into the kick.

"But because the ending wasn't too wild, it was, it was okay. I can kind of slow down a little bit, you know that I actually did two extra rotations on the show. It was a moment and I knew that because it was the show, the adrenaline is gonna get you back on your feet."

East revealed the couple will dance the Argentine tango to Ex-Wives from the hit musical Six, about the wives of Henry VIII, for musical week on Saturday.

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Ghouri said: "Musical week is the one week I've been wanting to do for so long. You get to play a character. It's themed especially. Six — it's about women empowerment, it's about women coming together and kind of going back against it. And so it really is a strong message as well."

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East revealed all the couple's dances for Musical Week on Saturday night.

Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola will dance the Charleston to Popular from Wicked. Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe will perform the rhumba to I'm Here from new musical The Colour Purple. Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystal will dance a waltz to Somewhere from West Side Story.

JB Gill and Lauren Oakley will do a Viennese waltz to Let's Go Fly A Kite from Mary Poppins and Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell will dance the quickstep to You're On Top from Anything Goes.

Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Nancy Xu
Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Nancy Xu took on the Pro Challenge. (BBC)

Nancy Xu was the latest professional dancer to take part in the Strictly 2024 pro challenge. Last year she came second and so was determined to claim victory this year. Gorka Marquez is currently top the leaderboard with four steps. Jowita Przystal is bottom with zero correct steps achieved in the time. Vito Coppola has two.

This year's judge Craig Revel Horwood set the challenge for the pro dancers to attempt to break the record for the most Cha-Cha-Cha chasses performed in 30 seconds.

Watched by an official Guinness World Records time keeper, Revel Horwood asked her if she was feeling nervous. Xu said: "Nervous, but I felt it's gonna be very fun challenge for me. Yeah, I think we'll shake it out."

Afterwards Revel Horwood told her: "Well, you lost a little bit of rhythm just to begin with and then you went like lightning through to the end. So, congratulations."

Xu admitted: "I'm not sure what happened there. I am still a little bit confused. I think that just reminds me when I was a child in China, I started doing this Cha-Cha-Cha step, and my dance teacher told us like twisting your body like a tower that will help you to twist your knee and for the next steps. A watching myself, I felt, 'Oh God bless her — she struggled!' "

East revealed Xu managed 10 steps in the time but six were qualified as not completely correct, putting her joint top of the leaderboard with Marquez.

Strictly: It Takes Two airs on BBC Two at 6.30pm, Monday to Friday.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One at 7.05pm on Saturday.

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