Angela Rippon told dance partner Kai Widdrington that she wanted to be pushed on the Strictly tour.
And he did not disappoint – lifting her into the air while she performed a spectacular high kick.
The former newsreader, who turned 79 in October while starring on the BBC One show, was seen rehearsing for the tour, held up by male dancers Widdrington, Neil Jones and Vito Coppola.
The presenter, the oldest celebrity ever to appear on Strictly, was also seen practising a high kick akin to that which stunned viewers in the last series.
Speaking before the opening night in Birmingham last night, Ms Rippon said: ‘I said to Kai at the beginning, just challenge me with everything. We’ve been rehearsing eight to ten hours a day and yesterday we had a 12-hour day going through the whole tour.’
Queen of the high kick: Angela Rippon is held aloft during rehearsals
Impressive: Ms Rippon told dance partner Kai Widdrington that she wanted to be pushed on the Strictly tour. And he did not disappoint – lifting her into the air while she performed a spectacular high kick
Ms Rippon, the eighth star voted off the show, said she prepared for the 30-date tour by taking morning walks. ‘For 50 years I’ve exercised and stretched every morning so I’m continuing to do that,’ she said. ‘I spent part of my Christmas break in Devon with my family. So I had lovely long early morning walks on Dartmoor, getting that fresh clean air and going up and down endless hills.’
She revealed she had almost lost her voice, but added: ‘As long as these [my legs] work it doesn’t matter what happens.’
Meanwhile, Annabel Croft said her three children became concerned about her weight loss following the show. The former tennis star, 57, said: ‘You can’t keep weight on in that show, it just burns off you and my family and my kids were saying, ‘Eat mum! You need to eat!’
Ms Rippon and Ms Croft will be joined on the tour by winner Ellie Leach and runners-up Bobby Brazier and Layton Williams. The show is judged by Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood.
