Strictly Come Dancing’s Ore Oduba opens up about the show’s curse, starting a family and those tight trousers
HIS snake hips, smooth moves and, ahem, tight trousers have turned Ore Oduba into one of the bookies’ favourites to win Strictly Come Dancing this year.
Those figure-hugging outfits probably have something to do with his growing fan club, too, which includes none other than Dame Joan Collins. In week one, Dame Joan tweeted: “Is it me or wasn’t there enough fabric in Ore’s trousers?”.
She then cheekily messaged Ore, 29, to wish him luck and say she was keeping a keen eye on his bottom half.
After our chat with the former Newsround and Rio Olympics presenter, we can definitely see what all the fuss is about.
Ore is cheeky, charming and easy to talk to.
Perfect marriage material, except Ore is already very much loved-up with his stunning wife of one year, Portia, 27, who works in TV.
His Instagram is filled with snaps of the cute couple and he lights up whenever he talks about “the woman of [his] dreams”.
As for the infamous Strictly Curse, he assures us there’ll be no affairs in the Oduba camp.
We catch up with the jive master…
Hi, Ore! You’ve been doing amazingly well on Strictly. Is your dance partner Joanne Clifton, 33, tough?
I’m having the best time! Jo isn’t strict at all. She’s so understanding and patient, even though she often has every right to throw her toys out of the pram and kick me where it hurts. At the beginning of each week I’m so bad, but we work really hard together. We’re in the studio all day every day with only Sunday off. But I love it. I never want to look back and regret not trying hard enough.
Are you competitive with the other contestants?
It’s actually very sickly [sweet] backstage – there’s only support. One week, we were all so nervous before eliminations that Anastacia pulled us into a circle and gave a really rousing speech about how proud we should be. It was like something out of a film. I was in tears! It gets very emotional, but everyone wants each other to do well. Of course we’re aware that someone is going each week. We don’t want anyone to slip up.
You’ve gained a lot of female fans since being on the show – what do you think of the attention?
I haven’t been aware of it. I do try to read every message from fans, but my wife is usually sitting next to me when I’m doing that! People have tweeted me saying they’ve had a bad day and watching my jive again cheered them up, which is really amazing. I just flail my feet around and hope for the best, so it’s nice to know I’m making people happy.
Is Portia supportive?
Definitely! It was our one-year wedding anniversary recently, and it’s not been the greatest first year in that I haven’t been around much. She’s the most incredible wife, but we haven’t been away together since our honeymoon to Thailand in January. Meanwhile, I’ve been off to France for the Euros, Rio for the Olympics and now this. Portia is really great, though, she comes down each week from Manchester where we live so she can watch the show and see me for a couple of hours. Strictly is so time-consuming it’s hard to fit anything else in. To be honest, I should really call her and tell her I still love her!
A lot of couples have broken up after appearing on the show – was Portia ever worried about the Strictly Curse?
She was so excited for me. When I knew I’d been partnered with Jo I wanted them to meet each other straight away, and not because of the dreaded curse. The show is so 24/7 and I didn’t want Portia to feel like an outsider. The three of us went out for dinner and bowling together. I won. But Portia and Jo got on so brilliantly, I was the third wheel! If anything, the curse has stolen my wife because I feel left out when we all hang out together. I really couldn’t have been more fortunate than to get two brilliant blonde bombshells in my life.
You planned a fancy proposal for Portia that involved a trip to the Shard, followed by a holiday in Dubai. Are you still romantic now?
Oops, that reminds me: I was meant to send her flowers. I’ll do that later! I do try to be romantic – I took her back to the Shard for our anniversary meal last week. We haven’t been since the day I proposed. We also went to see Justin Bieber. Is that romantic? Portia loves him. I think I’m a bit of a Belieber now, too – we were both bopping along.
Dame Joan Collins tweeted about your particularly tight trousers following the first live show – were you flattered?
Yes, thanks Dame Joan! They were very tight. I did a cartwheel and they rose up in the crotch region. Usually trousers sort themselves out, but
these ones stayed. There are lots of bells and whistles on Strictly, so it was nice to know that, of all things, the Dame’s eyes were firmly fixed on that area.
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What do you want to do after Strictly?
This year has been crazy for me. I’ve wanted to get married since I was 11, so I’ve done that, worked as a main anchor at the Olympics and been on Strictly. I really don’t know where to go from here. Maybe I should whack on a vest top, put on some comfy slippers and retire? Portia and I need to sit down and chat about what to do next. We would like to start a family, but we want to make sure we are settled and can support children before we start sprogging.
Watch Strictly Come Dancing every Saturday and Sunday, BBC1.