Strictly contestant exposes 'dark horse' of the group during group training

14 September 2023 , 18:00

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Strictly contestant exposes 'dark horse' of the group during group training

Strictly Come Dancing contestant Jody Cundy has sensationally revealed that he has already spotted who is likely to give him a run for his money after witnessing their skill in group training.

The 44 year old paralympian cyclist and swimmner, who has achieved 23 world titles during the course of his career, is set to join the latest line-up on the BBC dance show. But amid the heated debate that seemed to erupt a few weeks ago, regarding unskilled dancers competing against those who have had a background in dance, it looks as though one person out of the group is already miles ahead - Bobby Brazier.

Jody Cundy is the latest celeb to join this year's Strictly (BBC/Ray Burmiston)

Reflecting on Bobby during the group training, Jody candidly revealed: "Well, having seen a couple of them move, I think Bobby's probably one because he started learning moves, and then he was watching himself in the mirror. Every time there was a break he put his dance shoes on when we first got there when we tried them on, and he was in them the whole day."

He added: "Every time you saw him, when he had five minutes, he wasn't sat down, he was doing a little Cha cha cha in the mirror and he was just watching it like absorbing everything. So, I think he's a dark horse for out and out performance." But despite noticing that Bobby has taken to a few of the moves like a duck to water, it seems that his inner competitive nature is driving him on to be the one to hold the glitterball.

He added: "As a competitive Jody? Yes. Because like I can't go into anything without trying to win it. Realistically, I'm just looking not to go out the first week when there's eliminations. Then, my goals will move accordingly. If we get to a stage and have a couple of weeks in the competition, then it will be ‘can we get to week four or five?’ I’ll feel like I'm then into the dancing and I’ll feel like I can learn stuff."

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Paralympian Jody Cundy has 23 world medals under his belt (BBC)

He continued: "If you can make it to Blackpool, it's like a completely different venue to go, it's got a history of Ballroom dancing and everything and that's quite a nice little marker in the sand I think if I get to there, then we're a good way in, and we're in November time then I might as well have a go at winning it now, but realistically all eyes are on not going home first."

Ahead of the Strictly launch show this weekend, Jody was dealt a bitter blow after the winning odds were revealed by Ladbrokes, that placed him as 50/1. He is currently their least favourite to win the show which is in stark contrast to his eight gold, one silver and three bronze medals.

Unsurprisingly, especially on the back of Jody's comments, Ladbrokes has placed Bobby as 7/2 to win the competition. However, undeterred, Jody said that he has been doing his homework in preparation for the contest - by watching Youtube videos of the show.

He added: " I've been watching quite a lot of videos on the YouTube channel, which is brilliant. It's like every dance from every year from as long as you can go back, I think. So that's great to be able to watch all the different styles of dancing to look at what the pros are doing. So, if I'm watching a female celebrity, I'm watching their male pro to work out what they're doing that because that's the bit essentially that I'm going to be doing when it comes to my performances."

Lucretia Munro