Hot from his stunning Strictly debut on Saturday, Kelvin Fletcher made an appearance on It Takes Two this week with his dance partner, Oti Mabuse - and he made a surprising revelation about his fellow Strictly celebs, admitting that he had only recently had the chance to meet them. Kevin, who was brought in as a last-minute replacement for Jamie Laing, wowed the judges, audience and TV viewers with his incredible Samba, despite only recently signing up to the show. Asked by host Zoe Ball how the other contestants had reacted to his performance, the 35-year-old replied: "They've been amazing… I only met them all, I guess, Friday and Saturday, so I still very much feel like the new boy. But I'm sure there will be some relationships formed over the new few weeks, hopefully, you know, everlasting. And just to get that kind of support has been amazing."
Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse wowed on Saturday's Strictly
Oti was unsurprisingly full of praise for her partner but admitted: "It was totally unexpected to get those kind of critiques." Kelvin agreed: "Our jaws were on the floor when we got that first eight from Craig." But Oti did reveal that Kelvin's potential was clear from the outset. "We went into rehearsal and Kevin [Clifton] was in the studio. And he was just like, 'Oh. My. Goodness!'" Host Zoe added: "When you get that reaction from Kevin, you're like, 'Yes!'"
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Kevin and Oti scored 32 points for their Samba, taking them straight to the top of the leaderboard – all the more impressive given the pair only had two weeks to prepare. Kelvin and Oti are favourites in the competition now, and have had plenty of support from fans, as well as Kelvin's former Emmerdale co-stars. Charley Webb, who plays his on-screen ex-wife Debbie Dingle in the show, was one of the first to congratulate them after their Samba dance, writing on Instagram: "Just the best, emotional." Strictly host Tess Daly also made her opinion known, writing: "They were screaming for you in that studio!"
The 2019 Strictly celebrities
Kelvin revealed last week that he wasn't even on the replacement list of celebrities, admitting that it was a huge shock to be asked to step in for Jamie. The star thought at any moment it would be revealed that he was being pranked by Ant and Dec. Speaking to Mark Wright on his Heart FM show, which aired on Saturday, Kelvin said: "I wasn't expecting it at all. I wasn't on a replacement list, I wasn't on any list so I was completely, completely out of the blue. Even when we started on the Thursday I got rushed down there, met the producers, had a medical, and I kept saying to them 'I feel like Ant and Dec are gonna jump out with a film crew.'"