Croydon’s JB Gill, the JLS-star-turned-turkey-farmer, is rated as the 6-1 fourth favourite to win this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.
Glitterballs: former JLS singer (and dancer) Jonathan Gill is among the contestants in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing
Jonathan Gill, 37, was brought up in Croydon, went to Whitgift School and played for Warlingham rugby club before fame and fortune came along with the boy band.
On Strictly, he’ll be hoping to better the results of former bandmates, as well as using his rugby skills to side-step the scandals and controversy that have dogged BBC One’s biggest audience-pulling show.
He also has a bit of form that suggests he could go far: in December 2012, he won the special Christmas edition of Strictly, dancing with Ola Gordon. But according to the Grauniad’s preview: “They are recycling so many Christmas leftovers, it’s a turkey curry of a lineup.”
That might just suit Gill.
It has been 11 years since JLS – discovered on the X Factor – broke up, with Gill since then doing a range of media work while running a farm business at Biggin Hill, where a 9lb bronze turkey for Christmas will set you back more than £100. Gill’s tangoes and quick-steps could be really good for business if he sticks around for the final weeks of Strictly’s 20th anniversary series.
Bittersweet: Tasha Ghouri is the early favourite
Among Gill’s rivals for the glitterball trophy are Chris McCausland, the Liverpudlian comic will break new ground as the first ever blind contestant. There’s Paul Merson, the former Arsenal and England footballer (not to be confused with the geezer off Have I Got News For You… now that would have been worth watching), Tom Dean, still dripping wet from swimming in the Olympic pool in Paris, Toyah Willcox, the sometime punk singer and actress, Sam Quek, another Olympic gold medal-winner (hockey), and Tasha Ghouri, an ex-girlfriend of Strictly’s jettisoned pro Giovanni Pernice. Ghouri has gone from Love Island to becoming an “influencer”, and is the second deaf contestant to appear on the show.
Ghouri’s presence on the show is likely to be a regular reminder – for viewers, even if presenter Claudia Winkleperson, never mentions it – of happier days when Rose Ayling-Ellis so magnificently wowed the nation to win in 2021 while promoting the use of British Sign Language. And also of the scandal that has dogged the show since allegations were made in last year’s series against Pernice.
Strictly’s anniversary year has been nightmarish so far, with allegations of bullying and a toxic workplace. Two professional dancers have departed under clouds. Questions have been asked about the show’s duty of care. There were even fears that this year’s series might not go ahead at all.
Voting for Christmas: has farmer Jonathan Gill landed himself on a BBC turkey?
The line-up probably includes too many reality stars, the token EastEnders actor and ringers with too much dance experience. There’s a suggestion that some potential star signings have given the show a wide berth, leading to what the Grauniad has called a “lacklustre lineup”.
The newspaper speculates that there has been “speculation that producers have found it harder than usual to sign up celebrities, especially women, due to the recent controversies.
“The fact that there are only six women among the final 15 might well support this theory. Four sportspeople, including three Olympians, could be a way of toughening up the cast and protecting against further complaints.”
Ghouri is rated as an early 7-2 favourite to win the show. Her professional dancing background will surely help. Jay Borthwick, who has played EastEnders’ Jay Mitchell since 2006, is second in the market at 4-1. Like Gill, Borthwick is a former winner of the show’s Christmas special.
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I doubt the average reader of IC gives a toss and you would need to pay them to watch it