Strictly Come Dancing’s Lawrence Robb previously revealed his reservations about joining the show ahead of his first live performance with professional partner Jowita Przystal
Strictly Come Dancing star Lawrence Robb once expressed concerns about appearing on the show. On Saturday (September 26th), he will make his live debut on the dance floor with his professional partner, Jowita Przystal, who won the series in 2022 with wildlife cameraman and presenter Hamza Yassin.
Before signing up, the Emmerdale star was asked whether he would say yes if he were offered a place on the show, and he highlighted two concerns. One was the fact that he worked on an ITV soap, while Strictly is broadcast on rival channel BBC.
He also admitted that he wasn’t confident in his dancing and feared he would fail “catastrophically” in front of viewers. Speaking on the Fit2 Perform podcast in 2024, the ITV actor said: “Never say never, my mum is keen for it to happen. I think I’d catastrophically fail in it. I’ve danced before but I struggle to step click.”
Lawrence, who plays Mackenzie Boyd on ITV’s soap, is one of 15 celebrities hoping to lift this year’s Glitterball trophy. He is competing alongside Lacey Turner, Dani Dyer, Delta Goodrem, Chris Appleton, Cach Mercer, Dame Sarah Storey, Will Best, Jaime Winstone, Bethany Antonia, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Graeme Hall, Tabby Stoecker and John Nellis.
Earlier this week, the actor’s co-star Emma Atkins claimed the soap moved quickly to write his character out to free him up for the BBC series. Speaking to The Sun at the Inside Soap Awards, she said: “We were filming a scene where we had to get him out so he could go and do it as he’d just got the phone call [from Strictly] and they wrote him out very quickly.
“He has this moment where he tells Charity he is going to work in Germany, and at the end of the scene I say ‘go on then, you may as well go’ and he does this little flick [like a shimmy] and I was like ‘the audience are going to know’, it was very very well done.”
Lawrence admits he is excited “but terrified” to compete. He added in a statement: “I’ve never done anything like this before, and from the very minimal dancing that I’ve done in the past, I know that it’s going to be an uphill battle from the get-go. I think once things kick off, I’ll probably understand what I’ve got myself into!
“On top of doing the show I am moving house, which is arguably more stressful than anything else an adult can do,” he continued.
A spokesperson for ITV said: “He has been released for a few weeks to accommodate his schedule with Strictly.”
The celebrity-pro pairings were confirmed during last weekend’s launch show, which also saw new hosts Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe make their debuts.
Strictly Come Dancing airs tonight at 6.15pm on BBC One
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