Dani Dyer said her husband, West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen, has been "so excited" and "so supportive" as she prepares to make her debut on the latest series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing.
The 29-year-old former Love Island winner, who was announced as part of the celebrity line-up this month, told the Mail she and Bowen have been practising at home and that he has agreed to dance with her in the kitchen. The new Strictly series is due to launch on Sunday, Sept. 20.
Dyer said the decision to join the BBC competition was a "once in a lifetime opportunity" she could not turn down, despite the gruelling training schedule that will take her away from her three young children for periods of time. She and Bowen married in June in a ceremony at the Langley Hotel in Buckinghamshire, where Dyer wore an off-the-shoulder Suzanne Neville gown she has said cost about £10,000. The couple share twin daughters, Summer and Star, who are two. Dyer is also mother to a four-year-old son, Santiago, from a previous relationship.
Asked about her father's reaction, Dyer said actor Danny Dyer, 48, would attend the first live show and was likely to be emotional. "He gets really emotional about things. He will probably cry. He's just so proud," she said, calling him a "proper girl dad" who tells her to "just go and enjoy it and smash it."
Dyer acknowledged that the demands of rehearsal will mean time away from home but said her children, especially her eldest, who she said now enjoys dancing to contemporary music, would be proud. "This is a time to enjoy," she said.
The star also addressed criticism that she had prior dance experience before signing up for the show. Dyer said any earlier training took place when she was a child at a local class in East London called Peggy O'Farrell's. "I loved it when I was a little girl, but then you hit your teenage years and you lose confidence," she said, adding that she regretted stopping because she loves to dance.
Strictly Come Dancing pairs celebrities with professional dancers for weekly live shows judged by a panel. Contestants typically undergo intense rehearsals in the weeks and months leading up to the live broadcasts. Dyer said she has been watching the professional dancers and that the experience has exceeded her expectations, calling it "dance, it's fun" and saying she was returning home from rehearsals "just so excited."