Strictly Ashley

We catch up with Ashley Roberts post Strictly… to find out the secrets behind her powerful athleticism and strong mind.

- Joanna Ebsworth

What day is it today?’ asks Ashley Roberts earnestly, displaying all the signs of a woman who’s surviving life by taking each day as it comes. It’s 7.30am on a cold, dark January morning (a Wednesday, to be precise), and the 2018 Strictly Come Dancing finalist is on set with a bleary-eyed H&F team, graciously squeezing us in for our cover shoot before she has to hotfoot across town to another eight-hour-long rehearsal for the forthcoming Strictly Come Dancing: The Live Tour (strictlycomedancinglive. com). Yet, despite her relentlessly hectic schedule (the tour lasts two months and visits eight UK cities), the 37-year-old former Pussycat Doll couldn’t be more chuffed to be heading back into the dance studio.

A new stage

‘I just can’t wait to go out on the tour and have some fun,’ she explains passionately. ‘The cast and I had our first meeting back after the Christmas break a few days ago, and we were all giggling like kids in the playground. We only have to practise the routines we know already, and we’re not being scored by judges or trying to win votes from the public, so the pressure has been lifted and we all feel we can breathe a bit now. Performing is what I love to do so I’m very excited to dance for the people paying to come see us, without all the stress that happened through the series.’