Lisa Snowdon and Brendan Cole are sweating, sweating, sweating. Lady Marmalade booms out of the speakers; already being played for the ninth time this day. Snowdon, for the future edification of eight million viewers, is having her virgin induction into the ways of the cha-cha-cha.
“F***!” she wails, as she hinges the wrong way on the offbeat and kicks Cole in the shins.
“I agree on ‘F***!’” Cole says, wincing.
With fewer than 79 hours to go before the inaugural show, the rigours of the Strictly Come Dancing schedule on the celebrity contestants are physically apparent. Snowdon’s back aches. Her feet are covered in shiny pink pressure points. She has a long scar on her leg – “heels” – and a purple and green bruise the size of an iPhone on her thigh. On Monday, Brendan Cole’s girlfriend, Zoe, came in to watch rehearsals. Snowdon, trying to impress, stepped on her own foot, in heels, and her shoe filled up with blood. “I thought, ‘Style it out, style it out,’”
Snowdon says. “You’re a Strictly girl now. I didn’t. Even. Miss. A. Beat.”
Yesterday, inadvertently, Cole punched Snowdon in the face just before the big lift. Today, every time they approach the big lift, Snowdon stalls. “I’m psychologically traumatised! It’s like Vietnam!” she hollers, as the dance grinds to a halt again.
“My instructor used to hit me on purpose,” Cole says, slyly. “He used to dig his nails into my back. I’m a little more modern in my approach.”
at The Journey.
