But the Made In Chelsea star thought he would at least get some support from his mum. The 32 year old said: “Right at the beginning I remember telling my mum I was going to do Strictly. “She said: ‘Oh, that’s so great darling’. Then she said: ‘You know you’re not going to win it’. I was like: ‘Thanks very much mum, that’s positive!'” But Jamie, partnered with Karen Hauer, has confounded his doubters, including mum Penny, 65.
Impressive moves have got the pair through to the final six couples in the contest.
And although they were in a shock dance-off with their tango last week against Radio 1’s Clara Amfo, the sweet company boss has surprised himself too, with a flurry of tens from the judges the previous week.
And Jamie says his whole family are now firmly behind him. “We’ve got so far and the family have seen how much I’ve improved. They’re all wanting me to win the whole thing. They weren’t expecting much but now everyone’s actually going to be disappointed if I don’t win it. And my mum is going to be particularly disappointed.”
Jamie’s biggest fan by far is his 90-year-old granny Patricia.
“She’s just loving it,” he said.
“In her village in Scotland everyone knows I’m her grandson because she goes around telling everyone.
“But she’s never voted for me as she doesn’t know how to. When I found out I was like: ‘Granny, what are you doing? Rally the troops’. She said: ‘Sorry darling, I just don’t know how to do it’.”
Jamie, whose great-grandfather Sir Alexander Grant built up the McVities biscuit empire, was forced to pull out of last year’s Strictly with a foot injury on the first night.
He felt he had let down “Granny Scotland” who told him she was “probably going to die next year”.
She’s now “over the moon”, said Jamie, who will dance the jive with Karen for Musicals Week tonight.