CHRIS HOLLINS is battered and bruised. Every muscle aches and moving hurts. He’s spent the last week training non-stop, but he can’t wipe the grin off his face.
“It’s still not real,” laughs Chris, 38, known to millions as the sports presenter on BBC Breakfast, and reigning Strictly Come Dancing champion.
“I still think they’re going to say ‘No, it’s all just a big joke – as if you’d win this!’
“But, in the meantime, I’ve got to keep training. I can’t let Ola down.”
Chris and his partner Ola Jordan are preparing for Strictly Come Dancing Live at the Echo Arena next week.
“It’s strange for me to be coming to Liverpool and not going to Anfield or Goodison,” laughs Chris.
“I come up each year for the Grand National, and sometimes for the rugby. I remember being there when Richard and Judy was there. I loved that weather map.
“I’ve been to Liverpool loads of times, but it’s normally been for work. Saying that, we do get to go out in the city, too. If I can, I always go for a drink at the Albert Dock.”
What can we look forward to from the show?
“I’m not supposed to tell you,” he whispers, conspiratorially. “But we’re doing a rumba and a foxtrot, and there’s a little surprise, too.”
A Charleston-shaped surprise, by any chance?
“Just that shape,” he laughs. “Ola and I have had so much feedback. Taxi drivers used to talk to me about the football. I’d get in a cab and they’d say ‘What did you think of Gerrard on Saturday?’ Now they’re asking me about the Charleston.
