Source: sundaymirror.co.uk
Penny Lancaster is getting ready to shimmy her 6ft frame across our TV screens every Saturday night as half of one of the hottest couples on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
And she’s nervous as a kitten. “I’m so excited when I think about it. Then a wave of panic sweeps over me. I know my knees will be knocking together and my hands will be sweating profusely.”
But Rod Stewart’s gorgeous blonde wife is determined to do well. “I’d be upset if I was voted off first. I’d love to win it because that would mean I’ll get to learn all the dances – my goal is to be the best I can be.”
So who does she regard as her deadliest rival? She doesn’t hesitate. “Kelly Brook,” says 36-year-old Penny. “She is absolutely gorgeous. She’s got one of those bodies women want and men desire. And she’s partnered by Brendan Cole. They’re a red-hot couple.”
Penny has already danced with Brendan, famous for his bump and grind both on and off the dance floor.
The event was a charity polo match in Essex in July. Penny was a celebrity guest. “One of the auction prizes fell through at the last minute and the organiser, a friend of mine, said that one of the professionals from TV’s Strictly Come Dancing – Brendan – who happened to be there agreed to step in and offer the first dance with the highest bidder. It was for charity so my friend asked me to help out with the bidding.
“Bidding started at £1,500, so I upped it to £1,800 – and suddenly it stopped dead. I’d won. Brendan came over and was introduced to me, and we took to the floor and it was a great experience. Everyone was cheering.”
The event, to raise funds for a breast cancer charity, was partly organised by the daughter of Penny’s old friend Maria Falco, who died of the illness a few years earlier at the age of 42.
“It was Maria,” reveals Penny, “who dared me to go up to Rod nine years ago at the Dorchester hotel in London and ask for an autograph for her daughter Louise. If I hadn’t done that, Rod and I wouldn’t be together today.”
So what does the 62-year-old rock legend have to say about his leggy wife dancing with another man? “He knows how much I love dancing. I did tap, modern and ballet until I was 11 and was told I’d never make it as a professional dancer because I was too tall. I was heartbroken.
“Rod is one of those people who, if he sees someone following their dream, he’d never dampen it. I danced to his hit Hot Legs for a charity performance in Tonite’s the Night on the West End stage. He was in the front row cheering me on.”
Penny twice turned down invitations to appear in Strictly Come Dancing because of family commitments. She says: “When I told Rod I was thinking of accepting the latest invitation to take part in the show, his reaction couldn’t have been more supportive. ‘You go for it, girl!’” he said. The BBC has flown Ian Waite, Penny’s professional dancing partner on the show, out to her in LA so they can start rehearsing. “Rod came to one of my practice sessions to understand exactly what I was asking of my body.”
Not to check up on her, perhaps? After all, it’s not every man who’d be happy to watch his wife spend quite so much time in another man’s arms.
“True, but it’s not as though I’m having an affair behind Rod’s back.”
But she’ll be getting physical with another man…”Yes, but I’ll be like an actress playing a role. If I’ve got my leg wrapped around Ian’s shoulder, it’ll be because that’s part of the requirements of that particular dance.
“If I were in a darkened nightclub or in a bedroom and I had my leg wrapped around another man, then obviously that would be a different story!”
Penny says that in the weeks leading up to their wedding, she and Rod paid for a choreographer to give them dance lessons.
“We wanted to learn the basic moves so that when we took to the floor for the first dance at our reception, we didn’t trip over each other’s feet.”
As well as the dancing, she relishes the prospect of toning up her figure. “I’m still not as fit as I was before I got pregnant with our son Alastair,” she says.
It was during the last Strictly Come Dancing series that Emma Bunton became pregnant with a new little Baby Spice.
So are Penny and Rod planning a brother or sister for Alastair, who is two in November?
“Absolutely,” says Penny. “And who knows – after Strictly Come Dancing has finished, I’ll be fit and strong – the perfect time to have another baby.”
Strictly Come Dancing starts Saturday, October 6, BBC1.
‘My leg will be wrapped over him.. but we’re not in bed!’