Former JLS singer Aston Merrygold has been confirmed as the latest addition to this year’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ line-up.
After being rumoured for the show over the weekend, Aston appeared on Scott Mills’ Radio 1 show on Monday afternoon (14 August) to confirm that he will be appearing on this year’s series.
He admitted he was “very, very excited” to be taking part in the show, with Scott’s co-host Chris Stark commenting Aston’s dance background, specifically his backflip abilities, might put him at an unfair advantage.
Aston was insistence this wasn’t the case, though, claiming: “[‘Strictly’] is ballroom. That isn’t anything to do with what I do.”
Intriguingly, Aston’s former ‘X Factor’ competitor Alexandra Burke has also been rumoured for this year’s series, meaning we could be about to them pitted against one another for the second time.
Alexandra won ‘The X Factor’ back in 2008, while Aston finished in second place, as a member of JLS.
He was insistent that runner-up wouldn’t be good enough this time around, though, insisting: “The aim is to win… it’s a competition.
“Anyone that tells you they’re gonna enter a competition just to take part… we’ve seen the winners, they last the whole series, they have a great time and they get a trophy at the end.”
That’s fighting talk if ever we heard it, so fingers crossed Alexandra is one of the names announced in the next week.
Aston is the eighth name confirmed for this year’s series, with The Saturdays singer Mollie King, ‘EastEnders’ hunk Davood Ghadami, ITV daytime star Ruth Langsford and ‘Sunday Brunch’ presenter Simon Rimmer also hitting the dance floor this year.