I was on Strictly – there’s a big lie producers tell contestants before the show… they have no idea what they’re in for
MOST Strictly contestants fear being in the bottom two and facing the dreaded dance-off, but not Olympian Greg Rutherford.
The 36-year-old – who took part in Strictly in a couple with Natalie Lowe – says it was his favourite part of the BBC dance competition.
But Greg has issued a stark warning to this year’s line-up, claiming they “have no idea what they’ve let themselves in for”.
He says producers underplayed how many hours he’d spend in the training room ahead of his stint in 2016 – so he was shocked by how intense it was.
Greg tells The Sun: “I remember when I went through the process of discussing it, it was said to me, ‘Oh you’ll only do a couple of hours a day, it won’t be too bad.’
“But I ended up doing about 10 to 12 hours every single day.
“And I was still rubbish at it, so it shows how difficult the show is!”
This year’s line-up includes EastEnders stars Nigel Harman and Bobby Brazier, Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington, journalist Angela Rippon and telly icon Les Dennis.
Olympic long-jump medalist Greg came seventh in his series, which was won byThe One Show host Ore Oduba.
Despite coming from an athletic background, Greg says he knew he wouldn’t make it to the finals as soon as he saw who he was up against, including ex-Hollyoaks star Danny Mac.
“I had no aspirations of trying to win the thing because I knew I wouldn’t be good enough,” he admits.
“Also, on the first day we got together, I watched Danny Mac dance and just thought, ‘Well, I have no hope’. I thought he would win my year!
“You realise that there’s some people who are naturally very good at it, and I wasn’t naturally very good at all. I just worked hard.”
Loved the pressure
Greg was in the dreaded dance-off twice – but he claims it was one of his favourite parts of the show, as well as the build-up to the live performance on Saturday night.
He says: “The moment that you have where the cameras are about to go live and they’ve just shown your VT before you start, that was the bit I loved more than anything else.
“For me, that pressure of knowing that it’s now and it’s live and you have to do it – I think that’s probably because of the job I had.
“It was all about that stress and pressure of performing. That stress was incredible.
“And the two times that I was in the dance off, I loved it. I love that pressure.
“And that’s the big thing for the contestants, that’ll be something that they have to deal with and go through, because it’s really stressful.
“It is a lot of hard work, but it’s also incredible.”
Cancer scare
Greg also opened up about his recent cancer scare which saw him find a lump on his testicle during lockdown.
He previously admitted his mental health “took a beating” as he desperately tried to ignore it out of fear.
The dad-of-two couldn’t even face confiding in his wife Susie Verrill until the “physical pain and worry” forced him to turn to a friend – fellow athlete Leo Barker, who was diagnosed with cancer when he was 31.
“He suffered badly with testicular cancer, he got very, very unwell with it,” he says.
“Obviously there’s a large proportion of men that get it early and it’s curable very quickly, but he got very, very poorly.
“Thankfully he survived, but I spoke to him about my lump and straight away he was just like, ‘Don’t be stupid, just go and get checked’.”
While it turned out to be a cyst, Greg stressed the importance of regularly checking yourself, and going to the doctor if you find anything unusual.
“I’m very lucky that I haven’t suffered with cancer, but I did find a lump and not address it straight away,” he says.
“The problem with doing something like that is it obviously eats away at you a little bit, because you try to ignore it.
“Thankfully for me it was fine, but it affects your thought process big time, when that’s in the back of your mind, when you know something’s there, and you don’t know what it is.
“The quicker you get on things, the quicker you can get things sorted.
“Equally if it isn’t anything, it’s good to know, because once you find out it clears your mind and you can just carry on with your life as normal.”
Tragic loss
Greg’s family has been affected by cancer – he lost his grandfather to the disease while he was preparing for his first Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.
“It was dreadful,” he recalls. “I was very fortunate on one level because I was 21 when that happened, and I’d never lost anyone close in my family.
“And then you lose somebody who’s so important to you, because we were very close, and it massively impacts you, like it really hit me hard.
“He died and then I left to go to my first Olympics in Beijing, and then the funeral was on while I was away, so it was a really tough time.
“ I think most people have been touched by cancer in the family at some point, or through a friend, and know that feeling of just how devastating it is to lose somebody, but also to watch what cancer can do to people.
“My grandfather, who was incredibly strong and fit and active at 72, just to be completely utterly, basically eaten alive by the thing. It was dreadful to witness.”
Greg has been working with the Institute of Cancer Research and is one of millions of people around the UK to have worn bespoke running shoes for a unique beach run that will see the words “FINISH CANCER” imprinted 167,000 times along 100 miles of British coastline.
The 167,000 footsteps symbolise the number of lives lost to cancer in the UK every year.