Anton Du Beke has said he would like to partner former American footballer Jason Bell in the upcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing.
The professional dancer told Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch that this year’s cohort of celebrity contestants are a “great bunch”.
“I’ll tell you one I’m quite excited about, Jason Bell, the former American footballer. He’ll do it for me,” he added.
Du Beke said American football is his “guilty pleasure”, adding he is “excited about him coming on”.
Du Beke also said that the BBC dancing programme’s group numbers featuring the professionals are being recorded, which he said is “marvellous”.
The routines are normally learnt before the series starts and then performed just before the show starts, he added.
“I can barely remember my name halfway through a series, let alone a step,” Du Beke said.
He also said he will shortly be forming a bubble with his Strictly colleagues because of coronavirus measures.
“Next week, we’re going into a period of isolation, personal isolation, and then we go into the Strictly bubble from that point on,” he said.
Olympic gold medal-winning boxer Nicola Adams will compete on the programme as part of its first same-sex couple in the new series of the celebrity dancing competition.