Rod's girl Penny to Dance Strictly
Kelly Brook, Penny Lancaster and Strictly Come Dancing's first married couple - Gabby and Kenny Logan - will be battling it out on the ballroom floor in the next series, it was announced today.
Former EastEnders actress Letitia Dean, Dynasty star Stephanie Beacham, football legend John Barnes, former Mis-Teeq singer Alesha Dixon and GMTV presenter Kate Garraway are also joining the BBC1 show.
The fifth series features seven women and seven men, with Brian Capron, best known for his role as Coronation Street's serial killer Richard Hillman, Matt di Angelo, who plays Deano Wicks in EastEnders, Blue Peter presenter Gethin Jones, One Show reporter Dominic Littlewood and professional snooker player Willie Thorne completing the male line-up.
Last year more than 12 million people tuned in to see England cricketer Mark Ramprakash clinch victory with dance partner Karen Hardy.
This year former Big Breakfast star Brook has been teamed up with professional dancer Brendan Cole, who split with his fiance, dancer Camilla Dallerup, when he got too close to newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky in the first series.
Brook joked of her dance partner's reputation as a Lothario: "So far so good. He hasn't really played up too much. He hasn't met Billy (Zane, Brook's fiance) yet, we'll have to wait and see.
"He seemed quite shy on the first day and he couldn't think of any steps. I don't know if I was intimidating. He had to go away for 10 minutes.
"He seems to be more confident now. I'm actually learning something. I'm looking forward to it. I haven't seen that side of him just yet."
On being the first married couple to rumba on the Strictly Come Dancing dance floor, BBC sports presenter Gabby Logan said: "At the moment we're trying not to talk about it at all because the first time we did there was a small heated debate.
"Kenny was trying to teach me a waltz after two lessons, which I thought was a bit premature on his part."
Her husband, a former Scottish international rugby player added: "She has been dancing around the kitchen for weeks. I have been waking up saying 'I can't do this' and she asks me 'What can't you do?'
"I say 'Strictly Come Dancing' and she tells me to shut up and go to sleep."
The pair are competing against each other with professional dancers.
Of getting to the final, Gabby said: "It seems to be a far-fetched dream but I think we would be really pleased for each other."
Kenny said of his wife: "She can win it." Before Gabby moved to the BBC she was approached to do ITV's ice-skating show.
She said: "I wanted to dance more than I wanted to skate .... It wasn't the reason I left ITV but it was a very attractive reason to come to the BBC."
Lancaster was not at today's launch in central London but sent a message from Los Angeles where she was celebrating two of her stepsons' birthdays.
The leggy model and photographer said: "I'm very excited about being on Strictly Come Dancing. I can't wait. I'm nervous but excited. It's an amazing opportunity and I've always dreamt about ballroom dancing.
"Rod Stewart, my husband, has been very supportive and even came to one of the lessons I have had." Lancaster said she was already aching from the small amount of practice she has so far endured and added: "I hope that I do my best and I don't get knocked out on the first week."
Capron said that by joining the show people would no longer associate him with his terrifying Coronation Street alter ego.
He said: "There are a lot of people who still think I've got a crowbar in my trousers. "Naturally I think it's an opportunity for people to see the real me.
"This seems to be the best reality programme because it's a real challenge, a lot of fun and all my family and friends seem to love it. Barnes said: "I like to think I can dance but it normally involves a bit of alcohol.
"I've been told that I will lose lots of weight. As we sit here today, Lycra does not go well with my body."
Dean, former barmaid Sharon in EastEnders, said of her debut on the show: "I'm approaching my fourth decade and my dance experience was some time ago. I've got six blisters already and if I was a trained dancer I would want my money back."
Dixon revealed: "I'm so scared because dance and freestyling are completely different disciplines.
I don't think it will be any easier for me. I'm finding it extremely hard."
Beacham, who played Sable Colby in The Colbys said: "I've been in heaven for four years wearing Ugg boots every day but having to put on these dancing shoes has given me blisters.
"I've had three sessions with Vincent (Simone). He's lovely but he doesn't want to drink tea as often as I want to."
Thorne joked: "I've not even danced before so this is going to be quite fun.
"We're being told they want to see our hips move but I haven't seen my hips for about 10 years let alone moved them. I'm an ugly duckling and I'm hoping they will turn me into a swan."
Garraway said she was taking a leaf out of Fiona Phillips' book: "She had a fantastic time. She really enjoyed it. She told me to go out there and have fun."
Di Angelo said: "Louisa (Lytton, former fellow EastEnders actress who appeared on the dance show last year) said 'It's a lot of hard work but a great experience'."
He added the past four days had been exhausting. The show, once again presented by Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly, begins in October with money from the phone voting going to Children In Need.
Forsyth joked: "Rod Stewart has not asked me to give Penny Lancaster private lessons and Kelly Brook is definitely not my lovechild."
Daly added: "There's going to be more bling and fake tan than ever before and that's just Bruce."
Metro
