Strictly Come Dancing plan special nod to EastEnders' legend in Christmas show

20 December 2023 , 23:11

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Strictly Come Dancing will pay homage to an EastEnders legend

EastEnders’ Kat Slater has had some iconic Christmas Day moments.

The soap’s indomitable character had a white wedding to Alfie Moon in 2003 and they left Albert Square for America on December 25 two years later. Then, in 2018, Alfie nearly died during the festive season after being pushed down a flight of stairs.

But thankfully, regardless of what writers have in store this year, she’ll at least be represented in some cheerful scenes on the BBC this Christmas Day. Strictly will pay homage to the character, played by Jessie Wallace, in dancer Nancy Xu ’s costume as she is paired with Enders star Jamie Borthwick (Jay Brown in the soap). Describing her outfit as “EastEnders Christmas”, Nancy says it is “sassy” with “animal vibes”. “Kat Slater vibes”, confirms Jamie.

Jamie Borthwick will take part in this year's Strictly Christmas special

The pair do the quickstep to Shakin’ Stevens’ Merry Christmas, Everyone and, bizarrely, Jamie is hoping for some negative feedback... from one judge, at least. “I hope the judges will be a bit easier on me. I’m sure they’ll see its Christmas and we’re all novices,” he says.

“But I feel if I don’t get something negative from Craig [Revel Horwood], I haven’t had a Strictly experience. I want him to have a go at me.” The Strictly Christmas Special with BBC breakfast’s Sally Nugent, rugby star Danny Cipriani and Sugababe Keisha Buchanan airs on Christmas Day at 4.40pm, BBC1.

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