Strictly star Amber Davies has passionately defended her place on the show after critics slammed her for having professional dance training.
The West End leading lady, 29, told the Daily Mail ahead of Saturday night’s performance that she has worked her ‘a*** off’ to make a name for herself in the elite world of musical theatre, starring in shows including 9 to 5, Back to the Future and Legally Blonde.
Her rise to stage stardom wasn’t easy, Amber had to work twice as hard to be recognised in a notoriously tough industry, following years of sacrifice from her working-class parents.
In 2017, Amber won the ITV2 reality show Love Island, a year that saw the series capture the nation and catapult its contestants to overnight fame.
Now she’s hoping to win over the Strictly audience after being drafted in at the eleventh hour to replace fellow Love Island alumni Dani Dyer, who was forced to withdraw after fracturing her ankle.
Performing alongside professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin, Amber has already topped the Strictly leaderboard but this week, she faces an exceptionally tough routine, with last-minute changes creating a ‘serious atmosphere’ in the training room.
Strictly star Amber Davies has passionately defended her place on the show after critics slammed her for having professional dance training
The West End leading lady told the Daily Mail ahead of Saturday night’s performance that she has worked her ‘a*** off’ to make a name for herself in the elite world of musical theatre
Her rise to stage stardom wasn’t easy, Amber had to work twice as hard to be recognised in a notoriously tough industry, following years of sacrifice from her working-class parents
Speaking exclusively, Amber said: ‘We see the same thing over and over again and I feel like it doesn’t matter what I say or how I feel, if I’m struggling, people will of course have things to say because I do musical theatre.
‘I have worked my a*** off to be taken seriously in the musical theatre world, and I feel like I have been working so hard.
‘The musical theatre world is actually quite small so once you work hard, you are committed, consistent in your job and are a good company member, you can build your reputation quite quickly within the industry.
‘For me, growing up in the spotlight, it’s a lot less about what other people think of me and how I feel about myself.
‘I came from a working-class family, and my mum and dad worked so hard so that me and my sister could do singing lessons, acting lessons, it’s in my DNA, I will always work as hard as I possibly can. As long as I am fulfilling my full potential that’s all that matters to me.’
Amber isn’t the first Strictly contestant with professional dance experience.
Layton Williams, who starred in Billy Elliot and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, reached the final in 2023, and Amber says he was the first to offer advice on how to tune out any negativity.
She said: ‘I received a lovely message from Layton on my first Saturday. He told me to just put myself in a bubble and embrace and be present in the moment.
Performing alongside professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin, Amber has already topped the Strictly leaderboard after impressing the judges
The former Love Island winner says she and Nikita bonded instantly after meeting for the first time just hours before performing their waltz live on Strictly
Amber joined Strictly after Dani Dyer was forced to pull out of the competition with a fractured ankle
‘I am not looking or searching for anything and that was a habit of mine before. I have gone looking for negative comments, don’t ask me why, it is hard. I have been so strict with myself that I am being present in the moment.
‘The thing is the world wouldn’t go around if people didn’t have opinions, so I am trying to enjoy this as much as possible because I really want it to be a positive moment in my life. So far, I have done a good job at working hard and getting my head down. I am trying to block it out.’
This year, Amber joined Strictly, which also features TV star Vicky Pattison, YouTuber George Clarke, and former Lioness Karen Carney, after Dani fractured her ankle and was forced to withdraw.
She reveals she and Dani are still in regular contact and says she will be cheering her on if she returns to the show next year.
Amber said: ‘I reached out to Dani a couple of times to make sure her ankle is healing properly. I didn’t want her to feel like I was coming in, I texted her and I said, you are missed so much in this building. Everybody misses her so much.
‘When I danced the waltz on Saturday night, I just wanted to make her proud. She is so lovely, so supportive, she is recovering, and I will be voting for her when she returns next year.’
For Amber, being part of Strictly has been a lifelong dream, and she admits she was in shock when the opportunity came along, grabbing it with both hands.
She recalls receiving the call from her agent, who even advised her to ‘sit down,’ before being drafted in and, just 48 hours later, stepping into the training room with professional dancer Nikita for the first time.
Amber (pictured with her mother) says she owes her career in musical theatre to her parents who paid for her to have dance and singing lessons
The singer’s first professional role was in the West End show 9 to 5, produced by global superstar Dolly Parton
With her background in musical theatre, Amber says she thrives under the pressure of live performance and is used to working to tight schedules (pictured October)
Amber explained: ‘There was a false narrative in the press that I have actually been turned away from Strictly a couple of times, but the truth is I have never met with Strictly ever.
‘When I received a call from my agent, he opened it with, ‘you need to sit down’ because Strictly has always been a dream of mine.
‘Never in a million years did I think I would get to do it. He said, Strictly have been on the phone and they would like to meet with you as potentially replacing Dani.
‘I had the meeting on the Wednesday morning, and I didn’t hear anything. Thursday morning comes around and at about 11am my agent asked me to come back to the office and have a psychology meeting, and we need to send you to the Strictly physio because they just want to check.
‘Thursday night at 7pm, I got the call to say you are starting tomorrow morning, and you are doing the waltz on Saturday. In that moment, I thought my heart could burst with excitement.’
Amber, who’s in a long-term relationship with her former Back to the Future co-star, Ben Joyce, said joining Strictly at the last minute has accelerated the close bond she shares with dance partner Nikita.
Speaking about his advice before the first live show, Amber explained: ‘Nikita said to me, look into my eyes the entire time. We had only known each other 24 hours.
‘It happened so quickly, it was like we skipped a million steps and had to immediately trust each other and bond and luckily, we are basically a male and female version of each other, and we clicked straight away.’
Amber is in a long-term relationship with her former Back to the Future co-star Ben Joyce after the pair’s romance blossomed behind the scenes
Ben, who recently moved into a new home with Amber, has been supporting her at the Strictly studios
Many fans know Amber best from her Love Island win, where she and ex-partner Kem Cetinay took home the £50,000 prize fund.
But long before reality TV fame, Amber trained in musical theatre, graduating from Urdang, a performing arts university, on a full scholarship.
After moving from North Wales to London at just 16, she completed the three-year course while also taking part in amateur dramatics to gain more experience.
She has previously spoken about how her parents invested heavily in her dreams, and Amber has always repaid their dedication with hard work and commitment.
Her efforts have clearly paid off, her first professional role was in the West End show 9 to 5, produced by global superstar Dolly Parton, and she has since gone on to star in six more musicals.
While some former Islanders are keen to move on from reality TV, Amber insists she still looks back fondly on her time on the show
She said: ‘A lot of people ask me, do you regret Love Island, and my answer will always be no, I do not regret it, it was actually the best summer of my life. Who can say they won Love Island? It’s iconic.’
Many fans know Amber best from her Love Island win, where she and ex-partner Kem Cetinay took home the £50,000 prize fund
Looking ahead to Saturday night’s performance, Amber says she’s been put through her paces as she and Nikita take on the series’ first-ever Argentine Tango to JADE’s Angel of My Dreams.
Even as late as Thursday, the pair were still tweaking the routine, removing a lift Amber felt was too risky for the live show.
She said: ‘When they showed me this routine on Monday, it was the first time I thought, this may be pushing it for the time frame that we have.
‘It is a complete and utter compliment. It is basically Nikita believing in me. But I looked at him and thought, oh my goodness, I don’t know if I’ve got that in a four-day turnaround.
‘On Wednesday, I spent seven hours in my heels because I thought if I take them off, they will never come back on and then on Thursday, when we started to clean the routine, the biggest moment wasn’t working, it was working like 20 per cent out of 100 times we run. It’s not worth the risk. It was a very serious rehearsal room.’
Luckily for Amber, she thrives under the intensity of live performance and is used to working to tight schedules.
She said: ‘I love the pressure. I love pressure, it’s weird. My day job is pressuring. I like the pressure because it makes me work harder and I can achieve things I didn’t think I could.
‘There is nothing quite like the feeling of being on a time cooker, Saturday comes around so quickly, you have to live life on pace X2 and be ready to learn.’
