Strictly Come Dancing stars Karen Clifton and Charles Venn are working hard in rehearsals right now ahead of Saturday's show, but rest assured, it isn’t all work and no play for the new dancing duo. On Tuesday evening, the pair appeared on Strictly: It Takes Two, and it wasn’t long before they were asked to go on a night out with host Zoe Ball. Zoe told them: "Can I say before I say anything else that I want to go on a night out with you two!" Beaming, Charles told Zoe: "Whenever your ready!" Zoe then joked: "They always say that at the beginning and then they never ring!" Charles then reassured the mum-of-two by saying: "No absolutely, I will buy us the drinks!"
Karen and Charles are planning a night out with Zoe Ball!
Karen and Charles also addressed the criticism they had received after their first dance. Head judge Shirley Ballas had thought that it was too much like a disco dance rather than a cha-cha, and Karen said: "It was her opinion. It fitted the choreography and I would have loved a bit more constructive criticism from the head judge but at the same time I was inspired by Charles, and the music was disco-ish, and I thought we had the right amount [of cha-cha]."
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Charles – who admitted he was "petrified" before going out on stage to dance – told Zoe that his first dance had been surreal. He said: "It was an out of body experience. being judged, the whole thing, something of this magnitude. I learnt how many people watched it and it was ten million viewers. It's amazing. I am living the dream right now."
The Strictly duo did the cha-cha for their first dance
The Casualty actor also revealed that he has found a balance between working and practicing in the studio, and that he has even taken some of his moves with him to his medical role! "I am starting to find a nice balance like going to sleep earlier than I usually do. I am now bringing some of the dancing and cha-cha to some of my CPR work right now," he said.
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Karen then disclosed that Charles sings Staying Alive while doing CPR in the show. "Honestly, that's the score, back to the disco," Charles laughed. The pair are set to do the Quickstep on Saturday's show, which Karen said that she has "stuffed like a turkey." "I have put so much in that routine that his head is exploding right now. He has been working really hard, but I have not made it easy at all as I know he can handle it," the pro dancer said.
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