Bobby Brazier vows to pay tribute to late mum Jade Goody on Strictly Come Dancing

EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing star Bobby Brazier was beaming on the Pride Of Britain Awards red carpet on Sunday evening as he told The Mirror: “I’m happy to be here. It’s a nice step away from what I’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks, dancing every day, all day. It’s nice because it’s not about me or my friends, it’s about real people doing amazing things. It’s going to be really wholesome.

“It’s going to be an emotional one, I feel like I might cry. So much stuff has happened in the Strictly training room, it’s all going to come up and I’m going to cry. Opening up about his experience on Strictly so far, the soap star said: “It’s been gruelling. In a sentence, it’s a source of immense joy and deep distress, in the space of an hour, every hour.”

Bobby said his dad Jeff Brazier is “so proud” of his achievements, but did joke that he’s just “upped his rent”. Eyes lighting up when talking about his dad’s strict parenting, Bobby added: “I’m 20, maybe it’s time for him to start charging me more”. Revealing the sweet way in which his dad has been helping him through tough Strictly training, Bobby said: “He’s been cooking us big lunches which is really kind of him, I do really appreciate those.”

Bobby told the Mirror he would love to pay a tribute to his mum Jade Goody, but kept his plans under wraps as it’s such a huge moment. He said: “Our couples choice, there is a song that is so perfect, I would love to do it. If it happens, it happens, but I would love to do that.”

Earlier this weekend, meanwhile, Strictly viewers hit out at the show’s judges on Saturday night over the “underscoring” of Bobby and his professional dance partner, Dianne Buswell. The couple wowed the studio audience with their Movie Week Samba, only to receive eights across the board from Craig Revell Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke.

Following their performance – danced to the tune of Kym Mazelle’s Young Hearts Run Free from 1996 flick, Romeo and Juliet – fans of the BBC programme vented their frustrations on social media, with many declaring the pair should have topped the leaderboard. Bobby and Dianne’s respectable 32, however, was only enough to see them chart in fourth – behind Angela Scanlon and Carlos Gu (35), Eddie Kadi and Karen Hauer (34) and llie Leach and Vito Coppola (32).

One disgruntled fan wrote on Instagram: “Seriously undermarked and I never say that lightly, he was so good. Another penned: “Very undermarked. Marking and comments don’t match up, they didn’t give him one negative comment or anything to work on. It was [the most] amazing dance of the night for me.”

A third took to X (formerly Twitter) to declare: Bobby was severely undermarked, that Samba was everythingggg #Strictly.” And a fourth wrote: “Bobby and Dianne were so ridiculously undermarked for that samba like HELLO DID WE WATCH THE SAME THING?? #strictly.”

The Daily Mirror Pride Of Britain Awards With TSB this evening will be hosted by Carol Vorderman and Ashley Banjo, with the two stars recently sharing their excitement at teaming up once again for the 24th annual event. Carol has fronted the awards ever since 1999, with Dancing On Ice judge Ashley joining her side in 2021.

The duo first met and formed a friendship thanks to Carol taking part in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2016 alongside Ashley’s brother Jordan – and they’ve grown closer ever since. “It just feels unique. You see the weight and the gravity of how the night affects not just the winners but everyone in the room. I look forward to it every year.

“It’s a real honour to get to do it,” Ashley said ahead of hosting the awards this evening, with Carol adding: “It’s just this sort of goodness that’s in the room that you rarely come across as a feeling. It’s gentle, kind and it’s all of the things that we want our lives to be.”

Since co-hosting the ceremony since 2021, Ashley has benefited from Carol’s wealth of experience and learnt a thing or two about hosting from the former Countdown star. “Her demeanour – the way that she speaks to people and the way that she’s got an incredible memory,” the former Britain’s Got Talent star answered when asked what he has taken from working alongside Carol.

Speaking to the Mirror, Ashley added: “When we’re doing the Pride Of Britain Awards, we get to know 30 names over quite a short space of time. You care about everybody’s story, but Carol remembers the details and she speaks to everybody like she knows them.”

Pride of Britain celebrates the achievements of this country’s unsung heroes who make our world a better place. This year the ceremony will take place on Sunday, October 8. The Pride of Britain Awards will be televised on ITV on October 12.

To get all the latest news there is a Pride of Britain podcast, PoBcast live on the Mirror and Pride of Britain YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages at 5pm every Wednesday and catch up on earlier episodes on YouTube and through the Pride of Britain Podcast on Spotify.

For more information about Pride of Britain and how to nominate someone remarkable for next year’s awards, please visit the Pride of Britain website.