jordan family

Ola and James Jordan share video of Ella's bedroom and reveal her love of dancing

Catch up on the Strictly stars' weekly parenting column

Parenting Editor
July 9, 2021

Former Strictly stars Ola and James Jordan have exclusively shared a video of their one-year-old daughter Ella's bedroom with HELLO!

For their weekly parenting column, the couple gave us a look inside the beautiful room with little Ella proudly showing off her cot, pretty dresses and her very own en-suite bathroom.

MORE: Ola Jordan shares adorable photo with lookalike baby Ella

WATCH: Ella Jordan gives HELLO! readers a tour of her bedroom

Ola and James told us all about the keepsakes they have on display in the room from Ella's newborn days – and reveal how their daughter is already taking after them with her cute dance moves.

Read about the family's latest news below…

Ella finally slept through!

If you've been following James and Ola's weekly column, you'll know that lovely Ella hasn't been that fond of sleeping recently – but this week, she finally gave mum and dad a good night's rest.

"Last night was the first night in months she slept through!" James tells us jubilantly.

"She went the whole night and was up at 8am! 8 O'clock!" says Ola. "We have no idea what happened. We haven't done anything differently.

"She was getting better the last couple of nights where she would only wake up once and then she would sleep till 7am. Previously she'd wake up every two hours. Today I woke up at 5am and didn't know what to do with myself. I was like, she's asleep, is she ok?!"

We are SO happy for you both.

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Ella shows us her bedroom

We love getting a peek inside celebrities' houses and Ola and James decided to film a little tour of Ella's bedroom.

The room is absolutely stunning, with peaceful neutral tones, a comfy-looking feeding chair and giant pink cuddly animals.

James reveals: "We've got a friend who owns an online pram store and he was the one who helped us choose the furniture for Ella's room. We wanted to go very neutral so we went white, irrelevant if we had a boy or a girl - that was what we wanted."

Ella's cot and big cuddly giraffe

"I wanted the room quite light; I don't want the room dark," adds Ola.

"Then I said it has to be pink because it's a girl," explains James. "I'm not one of these gender-neutral baby people – if it's a girl, it's pink; if it's a boy, it's blue. I'm very old fashioned like that."

We're particularly taken with Ella's wardrobe – just look at all her gorgeous dresses and shoes neatly lined up!

Ella's beautiful dresses

"Oh, I know, it's so cute, but a lot of summery clothes that we can't use!" says mum. "She doesn't really like trying clothes on. If I put one thing on her, she's had enough. She doesn't want to try it anymore.

"She's got this cute thing now where she goes up to the mirror to have a look and then she says, 'Wow!'. No matter what she has on, she'll go, 'Wow'!

And lucky Ella even has her own en-suite bathroom! "Yes, she's very lucky, spoiled!" says Ola.

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Ella's newborn keepsakes

Many parents keep special items from their child's newborn days and Ola and James have some sweet mementos on display in Ella's room.

Ella looking adorable on her feeding chair

"We've got her hospital wristband in the silver box," says Ola.

"We've also got the casts of her feet from when she was 10 days old," adds James.

"Ella always looks at the picture on there and says 'baby!'" tells mum. "I've kept everything from when she was a newborn – even the clothes. I can't part with the clothes from when she was little. It must be a mental thing for the mum, I don't know."

Ella's very cute pink elephant

Ola and James as babies

Talking of the newborn days had us wondering what Ola and James were like as babies!

James reveals: "Ola was a nightmare baby and apparently I was – believe it or not – a dream, until I got to about 15."

"Actually that's true," confirms Ola. "James' mum always says what a lovely boy he was till he turned about 15. Something went wrong there at 15!"

So what happened at 15 then? "I met my dance coach!" says James.

"I was a bit naughtier," tells Ola. "My mum always says that if she had me in a buggy going past other children, I'd be pushing children while I was sitting in my buggy. Or a child would have a sandwich in their hand and I'd come up and smack their hand and the sandwich would fly off! I used to push children, so yeah I used to be quite naughty - and now I'm lovely!"

Dancing together at home

It sounds like little Ella may be taking after mum and dad with her love of dancing, as the family like to have a boogie together at home.

"She's been dancing a lot recently," says dad. "As soon as music comes on the TV or if we put the music on in the gym or whatever, she's literally dancing away like a nutcase."

Ola adds: "She loves it. She jumps up and down and everything."

Ola and James in their Strictly days

We ask at what age Ola and James first started dancing...

"I was about nine when I started ballroom dancing," says Ola. "We had dance classes in my school so I went to that."

James adds: "Both of us were about nine, which is quite late. My parents used to dance and they got my sister into it and then I ended up being forced to dance!"

If Ella wants to ballroom dance, would they encourage it?

James replies: "No, I wouldn't encourage it, no. But if she really, really wanted to then I would support her 100% - but she's going to be a professional golfer!"

"No, she's going to be a lawyer or a doctor," says mum.

James asks, joking: "Where's she going to get the brains from then?"  "Mummy!" laughs Ola.

The couple both agree on one thing though, they'd love their daughter to be involved in sport. "I'd like her to be sporty," says Ola. "It's good to be sporty in life and you always want to keep fit."

"I just want to play all the golf courses around the world with her. I'll be her caddy," says dad.

We have a feeling Ella might have plans of her own!

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