Strictly star Angela Scanlon's hidden past as professional dancer who won awards

07 October 2023 , 17:00

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Angela Scanlon. (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Sty)

Angela Scanlon wowed the judges with her stunning performance on Strictly Come Dancing last weekend.

The Irish TV personality performed a powerful yet intense Tango with her professional partner, Carlos Gu, in week one receiving 23 points from the judges and a firm 8th place on the leader board for the week. In week two she left head judge Shirley Ballas "in awe" with her moves perfoming the jive. But it seems that for the 39 year old, who presents popular interior design show Your Home Made Perfect on BBC Two, this wasn't the first time she had donned a pair of dancing shoes or even taken part in a dancing competition.

In her youth, before becoming a popular TV presenter, Angela was a talented Irish dancer, travelling across the world to compete against other teams. Originally from County Meath in Ireland, Angela trained with the O'Shea Irish company. The young dance troop even starred on Channel 4's The Big Breakfast in the early 2000s, where they performed and she was photographed alongside Ronan Keating, fellow Irish singer and songwriter.

Angela did Irish dancing in her past (@angelascanlon/Instagram)

Angela Scanlon and Carlos Gu performing (PA)

She admitted to Strictly hosts Claudia Winkelman and Tess Daly in the first episode of this season of this series that Irish dancing is a core part of many children's childhoods in her home country, along with attending mass. But she stressed that even though she'd competed in dance competitions in the past she was still incredibly nervous about taking part in the show. Angela said later in an Instagram post to fans: "I literally forgot how to speak I was so nervous/stunned, so far out of my comfort zone, so exposed, so ladylike."

Fans of the show have claimed that Angela has a unfair advantage over her competitors due to this previous dance experience, but she disagrees, saying that ballroom and Irish dancing are very different. She told the Daily Mail: "Most people, you grow up in Ireland, you do Irish dancing. But I've never done ballroom, I've certainly never done a rumba or any of this style of dancing. You dance on your own and it's very stiff.'

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"So the salsa hips, I don't know how we're going to achieve that. I have to take into consideration my partner's limbs and presence - so we'll see." Angela gave up on her Irish dancing career when she was 18, instead pursing her media career where she started as a a fashion journalist. She has since presented shows such as the One Show, Robot Wars with Dara O'Brien and many more on Irish TV channel RTE.

Cecilia Adamou