Emma Barton is sharing her time between Albert Square and the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom at the moment, and opened up on how she’s been juggling the two on tonight’s It Takes Two, after judge Shirley Ballas criticised her routine.
“I think I was drained,” Emma admitted when chatting to host Rylan Clark Neal about her first week.
Anton praised his partner’s efforts, saying: “It’s difficult, you’ve got quite a bit going on anyway with the day job, and to train as well as we, well Emma did… it was tremendous really.”
Despite being called “crowd pleasing” by Bruno Tonioli and receiving generally positive comments, judge Shirley Ballas shocked audiences with her criticism of the fun routine.
Shirley said although Emma was a “natural born performer” but then proceeded to critique the actress, saying that the dance was “too heavy”.
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When met with a wave of booing from the audience, Shirley quickly snapped back.
“Hang on a minute, learn something,” she told the audience.
The two scored a respectable 23, leaving them in the middle of the leaderboard, as Emma remains one of the favourites to win the competition.
Anton admitted he made it difficult for Emma and used the opportunity to try new things in routines.
He also quizzed her on how she managed both her time on Albert Square with the dance floor.
“I just have to think, I am very lucky, I am on two of the biggest shows, and there are times in my career where I’ve been unemployed, and I’m so lucky,” Emma reflected.
“That was quite scary, I think I was enjoying the show a little bit too much, I actually forgot where I was.”
This week the duo will work hard to continue and impress viewers ahead of the first elimination.