Irish TV star Angela Scanlon has said she is “thrilled” to be partnered with Strictly Come Dancing professional Carlos Gu, adding she feels she “know(s) him from another life”.
The 39-year-old Co Meath-born presenter, who hosts BBC Two’s Your Home Made Perfect, will dance alongside Chinese national champion Gu as the 21st series of the popular dancing show returns.
The TV host, originally from Ratoath, told the PA news agency of the partnership: “I was absolutely thrilled. I ran in quite a dramatic fashion.
“I always slightly judged people on the launch show when they were like, ‘ahhh’, and then I did exactly the same. But yeah, really, really happy.
“I obviously watched – like everybody else – Carlos last year with Molly (Rainford) and (he is) just such an incredible dancer. But actually, like, the vibe, I feel like that I know him from another life.”
Gu, who joined Strictly last year and made the final four with TV presenter and singer Rainford, said he was also very pleased with this year’s partnership.
He said of Scanlon: “She’s got everything that I wanted, she’s beautiful, she’s (got) such personality, and I’m having such (a) good time with her already…”
Scanlon is also known for RTE’s Off The Rails and is the only woman in the UK and Ireland to have their own Saturday night chat show with Ask Me Anything on RTE One.
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Saturday night’s Strictly launch revealed all the celebrity pairings, and also saw the judges – Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood – take to the dance floor for an opening number alongside the professional dancers.
Scanlon said: “I feel nervous, obviously. I mean, I say obviously, maybe other people haven’t said they feel nervous, but I do.
“I think I generally tend to get a bit hyper and giddy and forget, and then it’s like, OK, calm down, calm down.
“I also love live telly and so there’s a bit in me that’s like, when that light goes on and the music starts and you know there’s nowhere to hide, and there is no turning back.
“And I just think you’re so in the moment so I’m actually really looking forward to it as well.”
Asked what they should know about each other, Gu said they shared the trait that “you read us straight away when you see us, the energy, the ‘what we’re thinking'”, adding they are “on the same level of presenting ourselves”.
Scanlon said: “I think I’m extremely messy. I have lots of stuff.
“And Carlos is always super tidy and very put together. So I think that might be annoying for him to even just look at my handbag in the corner with all the stuff trailing out of it… and also I think you’re maybe not prepared for the fact that I can be quite like quiet.
“I’m all out and then I need to retreat into my shell, which I think will be fine.”
The TV star, whose book Joyrider was published last year, said the dance she is most looking forward to is the Charleston.
She added: “But then I also think in the spirit of challenging myself, which is why I’m doing Strictly, I want to do something that totally pushes me out of my comfort zone in every way, shape and form, and I think I feel most uncomfortable imagining myself doing the rumba…”.
Strictly Come Dancing next airs on September 23rd at 6.15pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
