Paloma Faith reveals Strictly Come Dancing ambition

The 39-year-old singer-songwriter said she has not been asked to compete in the show, but has always wanted to learn how to tango.

Paloma Faith has said she would like to appear on Strictly Come Dancing.

The singer-songwriter and actress said she has not been asked to compete in the BBC One show, but has always wanted to learn how to tango.

Asked on The Jonathan Ross Show if she has been approached by Strictly, the 39-year-old said: “No, I really want to be on. I used to be a dancer. I really hate dancing now. So that’s why I want to do it, as I really like torturing myself. There’d be loads of masochism in doing it.”

She added: “But I used to be really obsessed by salsa dancing when I was young, maybe 17. I used to go five nights a week and still make it into college the next morning… I’ve always wanted to learn to tango.”

The pop star released her fifth album, Infinite Things, late last year, and recently gave birth to her second child.

The London-born singer had her first child, a daughter, with her long-term boyfriend, French artist Leyman Lahcine, in December 2016, and her second, also a girl, in February after six rounds of IVF.

She told Ross on his ITV show: “My baby’s now 11 weeks old and I have been posting a lot on social media about my feelings – I think a lot of women share those feelings. It’s been quite moving hearing what a lot of people have to say about during the pregnancy and post-partum.

“This is actually the second bit of work I’ve done since giving birth. There’s loads of stuff going on with that – returning to work, feeling guilty, I keep texting everyone saying ‘Is she OK? Had enough milk?’ I was pumping backstage – the reality is hardcore. It took them two hours to make me look like this.”

Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams spoke about her stint on Strictly.

She and her professional dance partner, Katya Jones, made history as part of the show’s first same-sex dance pairing last year, but their journey was cut short when Jones received a positive Covid-19 test result, forcing them to withdraw from the competition early.

Adams said: “I was absolutely gutted. Being a fighter, I’d have preferred to have gone out on my shield, in a dance-off.”

She described the training for Strictly as an “awesome experience”, saying: “First thing, I wasn’t getting hit in the face, so that was amazing. Because I had the fitness side already, it was just learning the dance routines and remembering to point my toes.

“Because I was so used to making myself as small as I could for defence in boxing, having to open up, project to the crowd, point my toes, know where to stand, turn… it was an awesome experience.”

Adams announced her retirement from boxing in late 2019, saying in a letter to a local paper that continuing her in-ring career risked serious injury.

She had suffered a torn pupil in her eye during her last fight in September of that year.

The Leeds-born sports star said of retiring: “At first it was really cool. I loved it, I had freedom, I could do what I wanted, it was awesome.

“The flip side of that, because I’d had such a strict eating regime… going from that to absolutely being able to do whatever I wanted, I found it really hard to control my eating.

“I tried loads of different diets, my weight was fluctuating all the time. I did some research, (looking into) building a good relationship with food.”

– The Jonathan Ross Show airs on Saturday at 9.35pm on ITV and ITV hub