Les Dennis has stated that he is’really thrilled’ after shedding 20 pounds on Strictly Come Dancing.
While the 69-year-old comic, who was famously married to Amanda Holden, didn’t survive long on the BBC programme, becoming the first celeb to be evicted during last week’s elimination, he noticed a difference in his health and fitness.
I’ve lost 20lbs. I’m feeling really happy about it,’ he shared with Heat before his debut performance on Saturday night.
‘Now I’m a bit thinner, I don’t mind whacking a few more sequins on. Nothing sheer, though. This does go out before the watershed.’
The Family Fortunes actor recently revealed details of the tough Strictly practises, claiming that he has been suffering with the ‘hip motion’ required in the Latin songs.
He said: ‘There’s a little bit of hip movement in our opening dance – we did it yesterday and today I couldn’t get up.’
Les added to The Mirror: ‘But I got myself fitter in the last month or so. It’s a great challenge.’
Prior to joining Strictly, the TV actress had shed three stone after experiencing the ‘greatest wake-up call’ in 2017 while performing in a touring production of The Addams Family.
Les, who has three children, boys Thomas and Philip, and daughter Eleanor, fell from 15 stone to 12 stone by following healthy habits such as avoiding alcohol and walking 10,000 steps every day.
He said he was motivated to act when a doctor informed him he was ‘pre-diabetic,’ and he was able to reverse the diagnosis by changing his lifestyle.
Les got kicked off the show. After landing in the dance-off against radio personality Nikita Kanda and Gorka Márquez, he and his partner Nancy Xu won Strictly.
The judges unanimously opted to rescue Nikita and Gorka, who will appear in Saturday’s much-anticipated Movie Week.
Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday at 6.20pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
