Strictly Come Dancing couple Janette Manrara and Aljaž Škorjanec talk the show’s ‘curse’

WE cha-cha-cha with Strictly Come Dancing couple Janette Manrara, 32, and Aljaž Skorjanec, 26, and chat weddings, junk food and the Strictly curse...

Congrats on your engagement a few months ago! Have you set a date for the wedding?

Aljaž Not yet. All we know is that it will be a summer wedding – it’s the only time we can get off.

Janette My family is based in Miami and Aljaž’s is in Slovenia, so picking the location will take some time.

How romantic are you both at home?

A Janette made me breakfast this morning!

J It was nothing special, just porridge and toast. Aljaž is the best alarm clock – every morning we have a cuddle and he says: “Good morning, baby. Wakey-wakey!”

A Please don’t put that in, that’s so embarrassing. Tell them I go and lift weights in the morning.

Aww! Do either of you have any annoying habits?

A Janette is seriously OCD. If I put the bread back in the wrong place she will move it within five seconds.

J He’s obsessed with sports. The first thing he does when we get home is check all the sports channels.

Do you find it difficult working and living together?

A Not really. During Strictly is when we see each other the least. Sometimes we have to travel to where the celeb we’re dancing with lives and stay there for most of the week to train with them, so we’re away from home a lot. It’s intense, but it brings us closer together because we miss each other.

Do you get jealous of each other spending so much time with your celeb dance partners?

A We’re professionals and there’s no time for us to be distracted. It’s hard choreography and it’s a difficult skill for the celebrities to learn, so you have to be focused, especially when we are scrutinised every week. Once the season starts, my whole mind is on the competition.

Lots of celebrity dancers’ relationships break down during the show. Is the Strictly curse real?

J I shudder whenever I hear that term. The days are long, and often it’s just the two of you and maybe a couple of cameramen in the room. With so many hours spent with one person, sometimes special things can happen. But it’s never the show’s fault. It depends on the two people and what’s going on in their lives.

You both have amazing bodies do you eat healthily?

A Definitely not! We eat McDonald’s, Subway, chocolate and crisps when we’re filming. We are dancing for eight hours a day without a day off, so we can get away with eating terribly. As soon as the show is over it’s Christmas, so we get to eat what we want then, too! But by January we go back to eating sensibly.

J As soon as I turned 30, I had to work a little harder to look like this. I mean, you see the dresses we wear…

Has anything ever popped out of a costume?

J Fortunately not. We do a dress rehearsal on Saturdays specifically so we can practise all the dances in costume.

What’s been your best moment from the show so far?

J Last series we danced together when the classical singer Andrea Bocelli was a guest. We had just got engaged, and Aljaž’s parents flew in from Slovenia to watch the show. It was such a perfect moment for me, and I was wearing a beautiful white dress. I don’t get too emotional, but that day I was crying!

BTW

• The couple met in a London dance studio in 2010 and Aljaž took Janette back there to propose.
• They both joined Strictly in 2013 and Aljaž won with Abbey Clancy.
• Janette told us they’re not going to choreograph a big wedding dance (damn!).

Watch Strictly Come Dancing, Saturdays and Sundays, BBC1.