Strictly Come Dancing professional Kai Widdrington has shared the unexpected way in which Angela Rippon’s big moment came together on the show last year. The 79-year-old journalist proved age is just a number when she lifted one of her legs all the way up at the end of her Cha Cha performance to Shirley Bassey’s Get This Party Started.
Reflecting on the viral moment, Kai, 28, admitted he was struggling to put something amazing together for their routine at first before his dad stepped in to help. He explained: “I remember when we got our first dance, I was like right she’s 79 years old, what on earth am I going to do?
“They’ve given me Shirley Bassey Get This Party Started, like what are you expecting me to do? So, I did the Cha Cha and I did this little basic routine, you know this and that.
“Then, it gets to the end and Shirley Bassey hits this massive high note and I’m like what on earth do I do here?
Do I do a drag? Do I do a back bend? But then she probably can’t bend back.”
Kai’s concerns soon vanished after his dad informed him that Angela had been known for her flexibility in previous years, so decided to ask her about it. In response, the newsreader told Kai she was “sort of” still flexible but underestimated herself when she demonstrated her kick in rehearsals.
The dancer recalled: “It just went up and up and that’s how that moment was created.”
Viewers at the time couldn’t believe what they were seeing from the show’s oldest ever contestant.
On platform X at the time, one wrote: “Angela is 78… seventy friggin’ eight and she did that leg extension… amazing.”
Another said: “Angela at 78 got her leg up this high…. amazing. I’m younger and I can’t get mine past hip level.”
A third added: “Angela Rippon putting her leg up at 78 and I can’t even touch my toe at 22.”
Angela’s age-defying talent earned her the top spot on the leaderboard and heaps of praise from the judges.
Motsi Mabuse said: “That was a statement, that is how you start a Saturday night.”
Head judge Shirley Ballas went on to say she got emotional watching the performance as she remembered Angela announcing her at the UK dance championships during the earlier stages of her career.
She added that everything about her performance was “pure class” while hard-to-please judge Craig Revel Horwood described it as “jaw-dropping”.
Following the viral moment, Kai joked that he is now known as the man who lifted Angela’s leg instead of a Strictly pro.
He added to Kaye Adams on BBC Radio Scotland: “We had a great run, what a woman, she’s so lovely.”
Strictly Come Dancing is expected to return to BBC One in September.
