Former Strictly Come Dancing winner Tom Chambers bet on himself to win the glitterball trophy.
He and his pro partner Camilla Dallerup impressed the judges and the voting public to win the dance show in 2008.
Looking back at his success on the dancefloor, the former Casualty and Holby City star knows how to impress everyone at home.
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Tom told RSVP Live: "Don’t take yourself too seriously. Enjoy the process, ride or journey, whatever you want to call it.
"The moment you start taking yourself too seriously or you start getting competitive, the audience can sniff that out and smell it a mile off.
"Don’t start saying ‘I’m finding it really hard this week, I don’t know how I am going to do it’ when you’ve been in a musical before.
"Don’t get the violin out, you can’t kid and kidder. It should be all about the joy, the fun and the learning."
He added: "To get one to one tuition from a pro, from someone who is absolutely top of their game, and to learn a new skill was unbelievable. I never did ballroom or Latin dancing, I only ever did a bit of tap at drama school. One lesson a week for two years."
Tom felt very humbled when Tess Daly and the late Bruce Forsyth announced him as the winner.
He said: "You can’t see who is voting and it is very humbling. You can’t see them and you have never met them, but somehow they are getting you through to the next week.
"I love how it has become the nation’s staple diet. The evenings are getting darker and everyone gets cosy watching it. It is great entertainment."
RTÉ star Angela Scanlon is one of the favourites to win Strictly Come Dancing this year and Tom wants to put his money where his mouth is, again.
He said: "We are rooting for her and I am wondering if I should put on a cheeky bet. I bet on myself, actually. I only did it for a bit of fun and it was an incentive to work harder."
Both episodes of Strictly are recorded by the BBC on Saturday night, one goes out live and the other airs on Sunday evening when the eliminated couple is revealed.
Tom said: "Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest, but my dance partner had me training on Sunday as well. It was seven days a week.
"They take a break and then film the results show on the same night.
"You always pretend it is live, even though everyone at home knows it is pre-recorded. You just don’t say anything. Obviously your family knows though."
Tom plays Danny Sierra as Murder in the Dark comes to The Gaiety Theatre. A car crash on a lonely road brings famous but troubled singer Danny Sierra and his extended family to an isolated holiday cottage in rural England. From the moment they arrive, a sequence of inexplicable events begins to occur… and then the lights go out.
He said: "I haven’t been to this theatre before, but I have played in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in the past. The Gaiety is beautiful, it is an absolutely stunning venue.
"The show is very punchy, each act is only 45 to 50 minutes long. When you are on stage and you don’t go off, it flies along. The way it is written, it is like pea shooters. It is rapid fire, one line after another.
"It was a nightmare in rehearsals because we were asking how we were going to learn it, but now it is amazing. It is a great gym exercise for the brain.
"If you’re going to come to see it, see for Susie Blake. The way she plays the farmer’s wife is genius and she is so funny. What she does and how she does it, she is the master in many ways."
Is it hard being away from his wife and three kids while on tour? I do miss the kids, but thank God for FaceTime. You have to pick your timings though. I hear ‘Don’t phone now, I’m just trying to get them to bed’.
Murder in the Dark, directed by Philip Franks, opens at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre from 10 -14 October 2023. Pick up your tickets - Here
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