Shane Richie has tried his hand at a lot of things over the course of his career – he’s done West End theatre, appeared in EastEnders and is about to release a country-music album.
Next on his list? It might well be Strictly Come Dancing!
The loveable Londoner made an appearance on It Takes Two last night, and dropped a huge hint that he’d be up for competing on the BBC show.
Presenter Zoe Ball mentioned that Debbie McGee and Giovanni Pernice would be performing the rumba on tonight’s show (they’ll be dancing to Tracy Chapman’s Baby Can I Hold You).
At that point, Shane – who was joined on the sofa by former Strictly winner Harry Judd and actress Emma Samms – piped up: “I love a rumba!”
And Zoe could clearly visualise the star strutting his stuff in a pair of dancing shoes, as she said: ”We’ll see you rumba one day, even if it’s just in the bar!”
When Zoe then asked him about Aston Merrygold being the highest male scorer of the series so far, Shane replied:
“Well, I’ve not done it yet. Next year we’ll be having this conversation: ‘Shane is the highest scoring artist in the history of Strictly’.”
Now if that’s not a hint to Strictly bosses to snap him up for 2018, we don’t know what is!
For now, though, the Alfie Moon actor is busy promoting his new album, A Country Soul, which comes out on 10th November.
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He performed one of the tracks on last night’s show, no doubt hoping that it would encourage people to buy the LP.
But, erm, it didn’t exactly go down a storm with viewers at home, and Twitter was soon buzzing with unkind remarks.
One person tweeted: “I’m not sure I’ve heard a voice worse than Shane Richie’s.”
Another joked: “I’m absolutely wetting myself at Shane Richie’s singing.”
And a third said: “#shanerichie laying down a great David Brent impression.”
Meanwhile, Shane’s fellow panellist Harry Judd revealed this week how fatherhood had changed his life.
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He has a daughter, Lola, and a son, Kit, with his violinist wife Izzy, and he told The Mail Online: “It’s amazing – I absolutely love it.
“It comes with its challenges but I can’t complain. Izzy and I, we initially struggled to conceive with Lola, so we feel very lucky.”