Pete Wicks will be familiar to fans of The Only Way Is Essex and people who like to listen to podcasts with I’m A Celebrity winner Sam Thompson – but now Strictly Come Dancing fans will have their reality show lothario needs topped up as Pete slides into the 2024 line-up!
In the announcement which proclaimed his Strictly involvement, Pete was billed as being “best known for his television appearances and presenting including from the red carpet at the BRIT Awards, Pride of Britain Awards and National Television Awards”.
But now Pete will hope to lift the Glitterball trophy himself by wowing the judges and viewers with his smoothest moves, rather than dish out the gongs.
However, it turns out he may be feeling a little bit nervous about being on the dancefloor.
Pete Wicks says: “Dancing live in front of the nation every Saturday? Absolutely terrifying. But anyone who knows me knows I love a challenge and trying new things. So I’m genuinely looking forward to getting stuck in.”
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Meet Strictly 2024 star Pete Wicks
To some telly viewers who may have eyed him hanging around the ITV jungle camp last year, Pete may have come off as the King of the Jungle’s podcast pal. But he’s a reality series regular himself, having also popped up on the likes of Celebrity MasterChef and The Celebrity Circle.
He’s also taken part in Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls, Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, and The Real Full Monty: Jingle Balls.
On the same theme, Pete’s Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins return will air while he’s on Strictly. He was forced to drop out of the Channel 4 series first time around after injuring his ribs. Pete was offered another chance on the programme – but telly chiefs were reportedly “fuming” after being “screwed over by another reality show”.
They’ll be even more fuming when they learn that he still hasn’t fully recovered from his injuries, two years on. Speaking on his podcast recently, he said: “I’m 36, and I haven’t been to a gym in eight years. I broke three ribs [in SAS] and my ribs are still broken, which is going to be a pain.”
Why Pete Wicks is friends with Sam Thompson
They seem an unlikely pair. But Pete – who met Sam on Celebs Go Dating in 2019 – can’t say enough lovely sentiments about his Staying Relevant co-host.
He told Sam during an interview on KISS Breakfast: “I love you! That’s the only time I’m going to tell him that because if I tell him he gets too excited, and it makes everything a little bit weird.”
I actually look up to Sam because he’s one of the happiest most genuine people I know.
Pete added: “Despite the fact that he looks at me like his dad, I actually look up to Sam because he’s one of the happiest most genuine people I know and I love that about him. I would never tell him that because there’d be tears and he’d never let me live it down but that is the God’s honest truth. I think he’s a wonderful, wonderful human being and I wish I was more like him.”
Pete Wicks on Zara McDermott telling him to sign up for Strictly
The fact that Pete signed up for Strictly 2024 was considered strange by some. It came a year after Sam’s girlfriend Zara McDermott appeared on the show. And, as anyone who’s read the news will know, she recently came out with allegations of abusive behaviour from partner Graziano Di Prima backstage on the show. So what made Pete sign up? Zara, apparently.
Pete was on Lorraine last month and was asked about Zara.
“Your lovely Zara, has she given you some good advice, has she said enjoy, what’s she said to you?” Lorraine probed.
Pete shared: “Zara was the one who pushed me to do the show because she loves the show.”
He then said: “I’ll admit, I’ve actually never seen it. The first time I saw Strictly was the first live show with Zara. And I thought, oh wow, this is amazing. But I never thought I’d do this and the sequins and all that stuff.
“It’s a brand-new challenge and wasn’t something I thought I would ever do. But it’s all about challenging yourself.”
He added to the Daily Mail: “Zara loves the show, and she’s been a massive support so she will probably be my number one fan.”
When it was suggested Zara could teach him some moves, he quipped: “It’s my partner that’s going to teach me everything so I’m just excited to get going.”
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Death of his nan had a huge impact
Back in 2022, Pete revealed that he’d lost his beloved nan, Doreen.
Posting on social media, he said: “My heart is broken and I have never felt so lost. I have been blessed to have you as my nan but more importantly to have you as my best friend.
“The strength, resilience, love, empathy and compassion you have shown throughout your life is a lesson to us all and without doubt the only good parts of me come from you.”
He finished the heartfelt post by writing: “Sleep well and be at peace, no one deserves it more. I love you.”
Pete’s recently written a book, Never Enough: My Words Unfiltered, and he’s dedicated it to his nan.
“I wanted to write this book as I knew my nan would be proud I had the [bleep]s to do it,” he told the Daily Mail.
Pete Wicks’ relationship status and if he has a girlfriend
It isn’t always easy to separate the fact from fiction when it comes to TV personalities whose love lives have functioned as central plot devices on the shows they appear on, usually as themselves. But amid his time on TOWIE and Celebs Gone Dating, Pete was previously linked to fellow ITVBe reality veteran Chloe Sims.
At one point, during an episode of TOWIE, Pete revealed he’d had Chloe’s name tattooed on his hand. But the precise circumstances of any alleged relationship were never clear. There were claims of a ‘secret’ relationship of two years that ended after “the under wraps romance leaked out”. It was also reported they may not have spoken for months before reuniting.
Nonetheless, in March 2022, Chloe explained why she unfollowed Pete on social media to New magazine.
She said at the time: “There isn’t a major reason why. We haven’t got a friendship or a relationship – not in a bad way, we just went our separate ways.
“I think moving forward, it’s disrespectful to someone I could date or he could to have all those photos up. I genuinely wasn’t doing it in a nasty way. I’ve had him muted for a long time and I just didn’t want to have him on there any more. We’re not on any terms. There’s nothing to say,” she added.
“It is what it is. I haven’t got the hump or anything, it’s just the decision I made. I’ve wanted to do it for a long time.”
Who else Strictly star Pete Wicks has been linked to as his dating history explained
Pete Wicks dated TOWIE co-star Megan McKenna for 18 months, until he was caught sexting his ex Jacqui Ryland.
According to The Sun, some of the messages were too rude to print. However, it’s claimed Pete implied that Megan was “boring” and that he “missed being single”.
Pete apologised and admitted he was an “idiot”, but that didn’t stop history repeating itself when he was with TOWIE star two years later.
‘I was left heartbroken’
The ladies’ man hooked up with co-star Shelby Tribble, but it was claimed that he was caught sexting multiple women behind her back.
“I was devastated, I thought he was The One but after reading those texts I was left heartbroken,” Shelby wailed to The Sun. She also claimed to have found naked images sent from several women. Shelby also alleged that many of Pete’s messages were sent while she was in bed asleep and Pete was in the same house but downstairs on the sofa.
“There were a lot of messages – it wasn’t just with one or two girls, there were at least 10,” she claimed. They split amid claims she felt like a “rebound” after his break-up with Megan McKenna.
Pete’s had his say, though. “Me and Shelby were not together and it was very early on. There were a lot of things that went on very early on with her that weren’t ideal either.
“Something was missing and that’s not her fault and it’s not mine. It wasn’t right. You can’t fake something that’s not there and that’s why we split, it had nothing to do with messages.”
Among others to be linked with him in tabloid reports are Megan Barton Hanson, Ella Rae Wise and Jessica Wright.
Rumours of a romance with Danielle Harold following her time Down Under on I’m A Celebrity last winter were slapped down at the time.
Additionally, he was recently reported to have been spotted kissing Love Island’s Maura Higgins.
So will the ladies’ man find love on the Strictly dance floor? Time will tell…
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Strictly star’s cancer scare
In December 2023, Pete revealed that he’d been to the doctors after finding a lump on his testicles.
The star ignored it as it grew for three months, blaming fear and male ego. He only went to the GP after the lump got so big he felt self-conscious on dates.
“It was affecting parts of my life. I was seeing someone and became self-conscious. But once I got through that stage it was, woah, if it is cancer, what would that do to my mum? So I plucked up the courage to stop being a big wimp about it,” he said at the time.
Fortunately, the lump wasn’t cancerous and he had it drained. “I’m so blessed mine turned out fine. The longer you leave things it can have a devastating effect.”
Is Strictly star Pete Wicks related to Joe Wicks?
No, Pete Wicks is not related to Joe Wicks. Although they do both have brown hair. And, of course, the same surname.
You might imagine they both come from Essex, too. But as it turns out, Joe was born in Surrey.
Even with two out of three similar characteristics considered here, it turns out that still isn’t enough to substantiate blood ties between these two media types.
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Strictly Come Dancing starts on BBC One on Saturday September 14 at 7.20pm.
Read more: Pete Wicks says he ‘nearly died’ after Sam Thompson’s I’m A Celebrity exit
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