Judge Rinder vows he will make it to the Strictly Come Dancing final and pulls his ‘sex face’ as we join him in rehearsals
The Judge's first entertaining dance - and more importantly, his bizarre facial expressions - went viral after last week's show and marked him as a real contender
IT was inevitable that I’d be on the receiving end of one of Judge Rinder’s famous withering put-downs – and not even a sparkly Strictly dress could save me.
“Come on darling, all I’m asking you to do is walk backwards,” he barks, as he attempts to manoeuvre me into an awkward foxtrot. “Look ELEGANT.”
Then he catches my eye and pulls one of THOSE dance show expressions, which have been described as “the many stages of sex face”. Now any pretence at elegance goes flying out the window.
Sun columnist Rob Rinder and his astonishing cha cha cha faces have been viewed by more than 7.5MILLION people online, making the clip of his dance on last week’s Strictly premiere the most watched in the show’s history.
His spectacular entrance — which saw him spin across the dancefloor before ripping off his judge’s gown to reveal his bare chest — immediately shortened the odds on him and dance partner Oksana Platero winning the Glitterball trophy.
He jokes: “When I heard I’d gone viral, I thought it meant I had a disease — it turns out everyone was a bit shocked.”
He can say that again. Few would have guessed that a criminal barrister turned TV judge would be such a dark horse.
The Judge, 38, says: “People didn’t expect much. And at first I massively panicked. Those spins I did, I thought I was going to end up in Bruno’s lap. It was a tsunami of adrenaline.
“Then Oksana caught my eye and I remembered how her whole thing is about doing your best and having a laugh. It was like everything went into slow motion and I just thought, ‘Let’s have fun’.”
Those facial expressions . . . I forgot the cameras were there. That’s my natural face!
His fancy footwork impressed the judges, but those odd facial expressions stole the show.
Insisting his gurning was spontaneous, he says: “Those facial expressions . . . The reality was that I forgot the cameras were there. That’s my natural face! It just emerged because I was dancing with Oksana and loving it.”
Today his chiselled six-pack is chastely hidden under a shirt and waistcoat. But I can feel his rock-hard abs when he holds me close. So what’s his secret?
He says, accusingly: “You know how I got the six-pack!”
This is true, in the two years I have known Judge Rinder he has repeatedly tried to convince me to accompany him to a dawn bootcamp favoured by Victoria Beckham, Ellie Goulding and Kim Kardashian. And I have consistently refused.
He adds: “You never come with me because you are always on your third glass of wine, but it’s all about Barry’s Bootcamp. It is expensive for sure, but way cheaper than a personal trainer.
“I go three or four times a week and do an hour of concentrated exercise — half on cardio and half on abs. I’m evangelical about it because it gets amazing results.”
The Judge also fits in a daily gym session and has run marathons and triathlons. He’s a self-confessed fitness freak, but it has not always been this way.
He says: “I didn’t get into fitness until my late twenties. I had put on a lot of weight, I was quite chubby and feeling really depressed. But exercise helped everything — the body and the mind.”
Despite being in great shape, Strictly is an enormous physical challenge. Unlike many of his fellow contestants — including former dance teacher Melvin Odoom, one-time West End star Danny Mac and Will Young, who has had extensive lessons — the Judge has no dance background.
He says: “The last time I did proper dancing was at 13 and performing in our school production of Bugsy Malone.
“I was in the National Youth Theatre too but there was no dancing there, I was doing plays like Julius Caesar and playing the lute very badly.
“But I don’t care about anyone else having more dance experience. You really are competing with yourself, just trying to get better. You can’t get stressed.”
With his Ukrainian partner Oksana, 27, at his side, a former national champion who has spent five seasons on US show Dancing With The Stars, the Judge reckons he can give his fellow celebrities a run for their money.
The pair already have a powerful chemistry, with the Judge admitting he loves the strict no-nonsense attitude of his “boginya” — Russian for goddess.
He says: “She is everything I could have hoped for in a teacher and more. There is absolutely no BS with Oksana.
“In Russian something is either good or bad, and she is always honest. When I am going out in front of 12million people I need someone to tell me if my dancing is not great. Plus she has worked with children before, which I think comes in handy when she is teaching me.”
In my short dance lesson with the Judge I note he has picked up Oksana’s knack for telling it like it is, chiding me for my clumsy arm and hunched neck.
When I watch him and Oksana practise their routine it is obvious how well they work together, even when she gets him to repeat the same moves over and over again until perfect.
Oksana reckons he has “a whole ton of potential”, adding: “I think I can read him and see what he needs.”
But he can see how the dreaded Strictly “curse” works its magic.
He says: “People talk about the curse and how it comes from being so physically close, but I don’t think it’s that.
“It’s about how the best teachers have an ability to read your mind, and give you the impression that they completely understand you.
“That is such an intimate thing that you can see how relationships do develop. There is no chance of that with us though. It would have to be a nuclear- powered Strictly curse!”
He is squeezing training sessions around filming his ITV show in Manchester, but he has little patience for people who think his job is tough.
He says: “The reality is I show up in the morning and a goddess is waiting to teach me how to dance. ‘Hello’, I must be the envy of 90 per cent of the population.
“I don’t think many people would describe being in a hold with Oksana as work.
“I get embarrassed when people tell me how hard I am working.
“Just the other day on my lunch break I ran into a nurse who said she was so impressed. I was like, ‘Come on, it’s not the same as you’.”
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Craig said I have a trout pout... The only thing I could do was defer to his much greater experience in that area!
This week they are dancing an American Smooth, complete with some dangerously impressive lifts.
Oksana’s choreography has a modern twist that she fears might not please all the judges. Not that it bothers the Judge, who has already exchanged blows with bitchy Craig Revel Horwood.
“Oh Craig, poor darling,” he says with a sigh. “There is a lot of hype about the tension between us but I don’t fake it. I am not going to have a false conflict with him, but if he continues to say things that are deeply unfair . . . For example, he said I have a trout pout.
“The only thing I could do was defer to his much greater experience in that area.”
Cheering on the Judge this Saturday will be his husband Seth, his grandparents and his pals, who include Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch.
There are whispers he could shimmy all the way to the final.
The Judge says: “I don’t want to sound arrogant but I think as long as I keep doing my best and doing what Oksana tells me, there is no reason why we can’t stay in.
“Honestly, and I know this sounds so schmaltzy and like I woke up in a North Korean propaganda video, but dance really is the most amazing thing. It is absolute escapism and it would be really annoying to stop now.”
But there is one element of Strictly he has reservations about.
Struggling to lift me for the photos, he says: “I’m not sure about the fake tan . . . But this is a great show and you can’t put down your own legal terms and conditions.
“So far they have allowed me to retain my dignity.”
As I remind him as he dumps me on the floor like the sack of potatoes I am — you never know when you are going to lose your dignity. And it is only week two.
