Craig Kelly shrugs off 'Strictly' jibes
Strictly Come Dancing celebrity Craig Kelly has vowed not to become 'the new John Sergeant' despite getting a rough ride from the judges. The Sun reports that the Coronation Street star is favourite to get the boot from the show tonight, after bookies confirmed that he was the show's least-backed celebrity ever. However he told the paper he was determined not to end up as a comedy character like John Sergeant - who became a hit with viewers last year thanks to his bad dancing. "I am certainly the underdog right now, but I would like to think the public think I have got potential and am not just a bit of a character," Kelly said. "I didn't come into this show to be known as someone who couldn't dance. I think what the judges are doing to me is a bit of tough love. My dance partner Flavia knows there is a good dancer in me. "We have seen it in training, but I haven't quite managed to fire on all cylinders and that is frustrating." In recent weeks Craig Revel Horwood described his dancing as "stiff" and "awkward" while Bruno Tonioli compared him to Humpty Dumpty. Former judge Arlene Phillips, meanwhile, said he was "one of the worst dancers ever on the show". A spokesman for bookmakers Paddy Power added, Even after seven weeks, punters just don't seem to know who Craig Kelly is. "With only 15 people backing him to win, he's the least-backed contestant we've ever had." Kelly and Flavia Cacace will perform a Viennese Waltz on Saturday's show in a bid to stay in the competition.
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.