STRICTLY Come Dancing star AJ Pritchard has opened up on the sneaky rule breaks he would use to ensure he keep his spot in the competition.
AJ was a professional dancer on the BBC series for four years, but left ahead of the 2020 series, despite initially being confirmed as part of the line-up.
During his time on the show, he made it to the semi-finals three years in a row with Olympian Claudia Fragapane, The Saturdays’ singer Mollie King, and Paralympian Lauren Steadman. He narrowly missed out on the slot again with his final partner, YouTuber Saffron Barker.
But AJ also knew the power of the public vote, and in a new interview he’s revealed he didn’t mind “bending the rules” in order to ensure he sticks out in the minds of viewers at home.
Speaking to HELLO!, he explained: “You can’t be middle of the road [on the leaderboard. Middle of the road is like the worst place to ever be.”
“I have the perfect example with Mollie [King]. I love her to bits, but we went on the storyline, we went on the personality,” he said. “I think it was in the semi-final, we were given a rumba and it was right at that crucial point.
“I thought, ‘Well, we can’t exactly do a basic rumba because it’s not going to really hit home and we probably won’t get votes and the judges aren’t going to like it. So let’s get a giant pier, you jump off the pier, I’ll catch you, we’ll spin for ten spins, we’ll probably get told off for it and I’ll lower you to the floor and make it a real love story.'”
Apparently, the decision shocked his fellow pros, who wondered how he managed to get away with it without getting in trouble.
“But then everyone at home was like, ‘That was just so emotional. It was so good!’,” he said. “I was like, ‘If we’re going to do it, let’s do a lift, get a little slap on the wrist but we’ll get through.'”
Mollie and AJ made it through 12 weeks during their time completing on the 2018 series, with Casualty star Joe McFadden winning that year with Katya Jones.
Since leaving the series, AJ has been seen on a number of reality TV shows, including I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, and Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
He’s now due to appear on Channel 5’s The Challenge, where he met his new girlfriend Zara Zoffany.
After returning from his time filming the show, he split with his girlfriend of three years, Abbie Quinnen, on a park bench after telling her he didn’t love her anymore.
Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday at 6.30pm on BBC One.
