Strictly Come Dancing’s Charlotte Hawkins secret tactics revealed

Good Morning Britain presenter Charlotte Hawkins has revealed her secret tactics for success on Strictly Come Dancing.

Charlotte was partnered with pro dancer Brendan Cole in last weekend’s launch show and is now hard at work in training.

The first Strictly songs and dances were revealed last week, with Charlotte and Brendan set to Foxtrot to The Best Is Yet To Come by Michael Buble.

However if it all goes wrong, Charlotte has a back up plan.

“The worse my dancing gets, the more leg I’ll have to show to distract everybody,” she confessed.

Charlotte explained: “I’m probably going to shock myself. I suspect a lot of people will be shocked too. But you have to throw yourself into it.

“I can’t go on that stage as Charlotte the newsreader or Charlotte the mum. I have to pretend to be Charlotte Hawkins the dancer. I have to step into character. I have to step out of my comfort zone.”

And as for Strictly’s outfits, Charlotte told The Sun newspaper: “I’ve been told you often start off saying, ‘I’ll just have the dresses down to the knee’. Then the next week it’s up to the thigh and the next week it’s, ‘Oh, maybe we’ll just go a bit shorter still’.

“Susanna and Piers are already teasing me about how short the dresses will get. Thank goodness, with all the dancing, I’m gonna be the fittest I’ve ever been.”

Meanwhile, Charlotte has been struggling with something quite unusual in training.

It’s not an injury or remembering the steps – it’s Brendan’s eyes.

“I can’t stop laughing. You have to look deep into your partner’s eyes. It’s the weirdest thing because who does that with a stranger in everyday life?” Charlotte admitted. “My default is to start giggling. It’s like being at the school dance and being mortified when you come face to face with a boy. I hope I can get over that.”

Speaking to the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine, Charlotte went on: “I’m thrilled to be partnered with Brendan though. He’s a brilliant dancer and he’s been on Strictly from the start, so I’m in safe hands.

“We had a twirl together live on Good Morning Britain recently when he was a guest, so he may have realised he’s in for a tough time teaching me. ”

She added: “The good thing is we’re already friends, so I know we’re going to have a laugh together as well as get the work done.”

Strictly Come Dancing returns tonight with the live shows starting at 6:25PM.