Strictly’s just like X Factor – except I was never in bottom two then, reveals Shayne Ward as he talks facing dance-off
HE has faced the Strictly dance-off twice this series, so singer Shayne Ward has the perfect soundtrack to his quickstep tonight – Help! by The Beatles.
It will be a challenge for the singer and actor as he takes to the dancefloor knowing the public has not supported him the way they did when he won The X Factor in 2005.
Back then, he sailed to victory, never once ending up in the bottom two on the ITV talent contest.
And the hothouse nature of Strictly brings the memories flooding back every week.
Shayne, who is paired with pro dancer Nancy Xu, said: “I never thought that, 20 years after The X Factor, I’d be listening to the same ‘heartbeat’ music that they played when I stood on the stage to win the show.
“I’m 40 and it brings back so much nostalgia. It’s weirdly the same feelings I had when I stood on that stage at the age of 21.
“You grow so close to everybody you’re working with, you see them pretty much every day. So you want everybody to do well. But then the realisation kicks in that somebody has to go home.
“The moment you hear that heartbeat, you’re like, ‘Oh, we’re back to a competition again, aren’t we?’.”
Just like on Strictly, the X Factor contestants had to secure enough public votes to get through to the next week.
The two acts with the fewest perform again, and their fate is decided by the judges.
Mancunian Shayne appeared to easily triumph on the now axed X Factor.
‘I really want this’
He immediately went on to get that year’s Christmas No1 with another aptly named track, That’s My Goal.
But Shayne, who was also in Coronation Street from 2015 to 2018, has not been so lucky on Strictly — and freely admits he doesn’t like it.
The star — who danced the paso doble to Edvard Grieg’s In The Hall Of the Mountain King for Halloween Week — said: “It’s not nice being in the bottom two. It’s a horrible feeling.
“You never know what the public are going to warm to, but I’m proud of the routine we did on Saturday. It fitted Halloween Week perfectly.
I’m 40 and it brings back so much nostalgia. It’s
Shayne Ward
weirdly the same feelings I had when I stood on that stage at the age of 21
“Being in that bottom two, I was gutted, you know. In that moment, you’re thinking, ‘Is this the end of my adventure on Strictly?’.
“We’re just truly grateful to the judges for putting us through.”
Though he picked up decent scores from Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton du Beke, he doesn’t seem to be winning over viewers at home quite the same.
So far, Shayne has had to fight for survival against DIY SOS star Nick Knowles in week four of the competition, and he saw off Doctor Punam Krishan last weekend.
Each time, he has been unanimously saved by the judges, but the competition is set to intensify this weekend with a “music icons” theme to help mark Strictly’s 20th anniversary.
Shayne says being in survival mode has affected his confidence in training, but insists he is using the nervous tension to motivate himself to come back fighting tonight.
He explained: “It’s hard not to let something like that come into the rehearsal room. But it definitely re-focuses you and reignites that fire to make you go, ‘I really want this, I don’t want this to be over. I want to keep dancing with Nancy’.
Being in that bottom two, I was gutted, you know. In that moment, you’re thinking, ‘Is this the end of my adventure on Strictly?’
Shayne Ward
“It gives you that spark again, to go, ‘Right, this is a new week, let’s go for it’. We’ve taken everything that the judges have said into the rehearsals to come back fighting.”
Shayne knows a thing or two about bouncing back by embracing a new skill.
Despite a hugely promising musical start in 2005, when That’s My Goal became one of the fastest-selling singles in UK chart history, his singing career took a huge blow in 2010.
His third album, Obsession, failed to make the Top Ten and in 2011, he was dropped by Syco, Simon Cowell’s record label that gave all X Factor winners a sought-after deal.
So he immediately turned to the stage, appearing first in Rock Of Ages at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, before joining the arena tour of Jeff Wayne’s musical version of The War Of The Worlds.
Then in 2015, Corrie came knocking, but after three years of playing troubled Aidan Connor, he exited the soap in a suicide storyline.
It gained the actor and ITV show huge praise for their sensitive handling of an issue affecting millions of people, particularly younger men.
While on the show, Shayne also started a relationship — and a family — with former Hollyoaks actress Sophie Austin, 40.
In 2016, the couple, who are engaged, had a daughter Willow and, in 2022, son Reign.
But it is fair to say Shayne’s career as a performer has not gone from strength to strength in recent years.
In 2015, his fourth and final album, Closer, was released, funded through PledgeMusic, and scraped its way to No 17 in the charts.
I’m a man now. I’ve got a family of my own, a partner I love, but I still feel like I have the world at my feet the same way I felt at 21
Shayne Ward
Recently, his most high-profile TV acting role was playing a cabaret singer in widely panned Channel 5 drama The Good Ship Murder.
So does he ever regret taking part in The X Factor and being set on the bumpy road that has been his career for the past two decades?
Shayne said: “My answer is no, because I wouldn’t be where I am right now in my career and my personal life with my two amazing children and my amazing partner, Sophie.
“I think it gave me life lessons. I’ve travelled the world and I’ve got to have these incredible moments thanks to starting out on The X Factor.
‘My absolute rock’
“I’m a man now. I’ve got a family of my own, a partner I love, but I still feel like I have the world at my feet the same way I felt at 21.
“I still have that drive to work, to push myself to see what I can do.”
It seems Shayne already has so much, but he is determined to win the Glitterball, just as he won that record contract and overnight fame.
He said: “Wouldn’t it be something to win X Factor and Strictly? Honestly, for me, it would be an absolute honour to lift that Glitterball for myself and Nancy. She deserves that moment. All we can do is our best and what will be, will be.”
Meanwhile, Shayne has insisted that Strictly fans who have branded him “cocky” and “arrogant” are wrong.
He said that while he might seem confident on the dance floor, he is “absolutely terrified because this is a huge deal”.
And he revealed it is Sophie who has kept him strong.
Shayne said: “She’s been my absolute rock through it all.
She’s been my absolute rock through it all
Shayne Ward
“I haven’t really seen the kids that much, and it breaks my heart because I miss them.
“But she is just an absolute force to be reckoned with because she’s just like, ‘I’ve got it all under control’.
“You think it’s impossible to love somebody more every day, but it’s true. Strictly can take all your concentration and what’s so amazing is the support and understanding I’ve had from Sophie. It’s incredible.
“You can’t do this show alone, and I’m so lucky to have her by my side.”
Shayne has laughed off reports he postponed his wedding to take part in Strictly.
He said: “Can you imagine if I did? That’s a very understanding wife to be!
“No, we’re looking to get married next year. It’s as simple as that. We’re very excited.
“There’s pressure for my wedding dance now I’ve been dancing for a few months.”
First of all, he has to nail tonight’s Beatles number.
Otherwise, it may be more Hello, Goodbye, Shayne.
- Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One at 6.30pm.