Interview with Strictly Christmas 2022's Rosie Ramsey and Neil Jones

The podcaster and her professional dance partner reveal all about their festive Strictly experience

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BBC One

Before they take to the ballroom floor in the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special on Christmas Day on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, we catch up with Rosie Ramsey and Neil Jones to find out how they're feeling about the competition and learn why Rosie's had to eat her words and apologise to husband Chris...

How are you feeling about being a part of the Strictly Christmas special?

Rosie: I’m feeling really good about the show. It’s so positive and such a lovely atmosphere! Learning the routine has been really fun and there’s such a strong festive feel everywhere! Being a mother of two, it can be quite hard and overwhelming but doing this has actually helped me really enjoy this time of the year.

Neil: Rosie is a dream. She’s been brilliant and from day one she’s picked everything up really quickly.

Tell us about your partnership, what’s training been like?

Rosie: Training has been good but it’s surprised me just how gruelling it is and how difficult the dance is. All the other couples’ dances are looking so polished and they’re doing such a good job. You definitely come in a bit naive to it and you think ‘oh it's easy’ but I've had to apologise to Chris! My husband did Strictly in 2019 and I didn't give him any sympathy at all. I told him he was overreacting and have I had to apologise because now it’s my time!

How do you feel about being ‘Strictly-fied’ festive style?

Rosie: It’s been so fun being Strictly-fied, I went to get hair and makeup done the other day when we recorded the group dance, and she was like, ‘is this too much?’ I was like ‘are you kidding me, no!’ This is Strictly you know, I want ALL the sparkle!

What would you buy each other for Christmas?

Rosie: You're a quite snazzy guy, so it would have to be something quite cool.

Neil: I'd get you something like a foot massage machine. It'd be nice for you could relax at the end of the day after looking after the kids.

Rosie: What would I get you? You like posh tea. I think that would be a fitting gift.

How do you rate your chances of being crowned Christmas champions and who do you think your biggest competition is?

Rosie: We haven’t seen anyone dance yet but George [Webster] is a superstar.

Neil: I've heard he's good, and I've heard he ends in the splits!

Rosie: I think George is our biggest competition, he just oozes brilliance, he's such a nice guy. But yeah, I think everyone's pretty good to be fair.

Neil: I love him every time I see him.

How do you rate yourself as a dancer?

Rosie: It's just a bit of fun, especially when it's Christmas. If it was the real competition I’d be worried!

What’s your favourite Christmas movie and why?

Neil: Growing up I used to always watch Superman.

Rosie: Mine's A Christmas Story, it's one that not many people have seen. They're actually doing a sequel of it. It was my mum's favourite Christmas film and she always used to put it on for us.

What’s been the best Christmas party you’ve ever been to?

Neil: My sister once invited us over for a Christmas party, she was like ‘come over for Christmas dinner’ and I thought it was going to be brilliant until we realised that she got a little canopy out in the garden. Her boyfriend said, ‘don't worry, we've got a heater!’ It was an industrial heater, but basically when he turned on it blew everything to the back of the garden! So yeah, that was that was a fun one, very memorable.

Rosie: We have a party at my Nana's house every year on Boxing Day, we've done it since I was tiny, and she's got a two bed semi and about 40 people pile in, you can hardly move! The kids all do a show, which we did when we were little kids and my Nana would make all the costumes.

Best and worst Christmas present you ever received?

Rosie: I remember when I was a kid, I got a Wendy house. Every year my mum and dad would give a big present to one of us, but they made it very clear that we had to share the gift. My brother got a slide one year and my sister got a keyboard, and then one year I got the Wendy house which I was obsessed with!

Neil: I really love that we always do Secret Santa at Strictly with the creative team and the pros. And every year I get really excited. There’s no theme, usually we can do what we want and they set a limit of £20, but I always go over. So one year I had to buy for our podcast presenter Kim Winston, and I actually made her a leather diary. I put it all together and she's still using it today. And another year I think I got Alijaz’s signed top by Messi.

Which judge are you most keen to impress?

Rosie: Craig obviously. It's Christmas, so he’s going to be in a good mood, and I love Anton as a judge. I really think he's doing a good job

Neil: Yeah, because we get him [Craig] on our side for the Christmas special.

What are the Christmas traditions in your household? How will you be spending Christmas Day this year?

Rosie: So when we put up the Christmas decorations, every year, we buy a little house. So now we're growing a village! We've been doing it since Robbie was one and now we have a collection of seven which we add to each year.

Any New Year’s resolutions?

Rosie: I don't really keep them to be honest with you. I was going to try to be better at texting people back because I get so many messages and they really overwhelms me. But then I've come to the realisation it's probably nothing to do with being bad at texting back, just people texting me too much!

Will you be taking your new found dancing skills into the new year?

Neil: I want to see you and Chris do a show together!

Rosie: That'd be cool. We haven’t practised together at all!

Neil: You could do some Argentine Tango lessons together.

About

The Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special will air at 5.10pm on Christmas Day on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Source BBC One

December 21, 2022 4:06am ET by BBC One  

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