Flirty Dancing: Ashley Banjo hosts new dance-based dating show on Channel 4

Ashley Banjo is to host a new dance-based dating show for Channel 4.

The new five part series is called Flirty Dancing and will start on Thursday, January 10 at 10PM on Channel 4.

The show will see self-confessed romantic Ashley Banjo, play cupid using his skills as Britain’s best loved choreographer to bring people together through the art of dance.

“In days gone by the dancefloor was the ultimate place to meet your other half. Recently, technology has put a dent in old fashioned romance. So now we’re looking to restore the dancefloor desire through one single dance,” Channel 4 tease.

Ashley explained the concept: “It’s like a blind date, but rather than meet up with somebody and then do something more conventional like go to a bar or to a restaurant, you don’t speak to this person. You don’t know who they are. You don’t even quite know where you’ll meet them, but you’ll bump into somebody.

“You’ll hear the music start to play that you’ve been rehearsing to for a week, but the person that you’re dancing with, it’s the first time you’ve ever seen them, and you have a few minutes to dance with that person, to do a choreographed routine.

“Then, once it’s finished you decide if you like them, what they made you feel like, and if you want to actually see them to go out on a second date. You don’t even get to speak to that person, it’s all based on how that dance with them made you feel.

Ashley, who himself met his wife through dance, will match the couples using different dance styles meaning it could be a Waltz in Wolverhampton, a Tango in Tenby or even a street dance in Sheffield.

Optimistic about the potential for perfect matches, Ashley added: “In the real world you talk to somebody and they might get tongue-tied. They might say the wrong thing; nerves might make them a slightly different person. You make a judgment, but that judgment can be flawed because the person doesn’t really give you the best version of themselves in that moment.

“Whereas with this, I don’t really think there’s any hiding. We almost give people a bit of a helping hand in a way.”

Ashley will be joined by fellow dance stars, Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely on the show.