JB Gill has one word to describe Amy Dowden's Strictly exit - as new partner reads her notes

JB Gill has nothing but praise for former Strictly Come Dancing partner Amy Dowden after she was forced to bow out from the hit show with an injury to her foot

JB Gill says Strictly dance partner Amy Dowden’s injury was “gutting” and is vowing to do his best to make her proud.

The JLS singer, 37, blew the judges away with new partner Lauren Oakley last week, and they hope to do the same on Saturday night.

Amy has said she feels she has let JB down after being forced to pull out of the series due to a foot injury.

But JB says that is misplaced. “She definitely hasn’t let anybody down,” he insists. “Amy has been an incredible teacher. She has worked so hard for me and obviously it was great that we were able to establish that bond and that connection. From day one, we worked on our partnership and worked on the things that we were passionate about.”

The timing of Amy’s injury, which should be healed within a few weeks, was particularly sad given that this weekend is the first anniversary of her finishing chemotherapy for breast cancer. The BBC said on Monday she will not take part “in the rest of the competition this year”.

Dad-of-two JB sighs: “Challenges happen to every person, especially over the duration of a show like this. It’s been an unfortunate circumstance but no one has been let down.

“It’s gutting, like Amy says, that it’s ended in this way but there’s nothing we can do about that now. We continue to look forward. It’s great to have her in my corner still.”

He says Lauren, who is friends with Amy, has been fantastic to work with having been drafted in very suddenly.

He says: “Lauren’s a great teacher. She’s different to Amy but this is the situation we find ourselves in and we’re ready to put our best foot forward. I think with hard work you can accomplish anything.”

He hopes the audience will stay behind him and Lauren – as he hasn’t given up on his dream of winning the Glitterball trophy.

He says: “I hope the public will have seen the effort that has gone into all of my routines to date. From my perspective, that’s not going to change. I’m still going to give 110%. Of course, I still want to be here and, if I’m able to, go all the way to the final.”

The star is focusing on getting his steps right and growing his bond with Lauren, 33, who joined the show in 2022 and was
last year partnered with Krishnan Guru-Murthy. He says: “You have to control the things you can control. My issue isn’t worrying about the public. Of course, you need them on side – they’re the ones who are voting and we’re very appreciative of their support.

“But our focus isn’t really on that. Our focus is on delivering the best routine that we can.”

JB says they will go forward with three people in the partnership, as he and Lauren strive to do the best they can, with Amy’s support. He says: “Amy is obviously a good friend of Lauren’s and has been a great partner to me, and we’ll definitely have a friendship way after this show is finished, which is amazing. There are always silver linings.”

Amy, 34, had input into this week’s samba, which will be performed to Mas Que Nada by Sergio Mendes.

Lauren says taking over has been “bittersweet” and is thankful for all the groundwork Amy did with JB. She says: “It’s really sad, the situation, but I feel like I just want to do my best for JB and carry him forward as far as I can. Amy sent me through some ideas and I’ve choreographed the dance, because if you teach something that’s yours, you are the best teacher you can be, if that makes sense.

“Having said that, I definitely took some pointers from Amy. But it’s been nice to put my stamp on the samba and we’re looking forward to performing it.”

JB says he hopes Amy can achieve her stated aim of dancing on screen again before the current series ends. He says: “I’ve got no doubt she’ll dance again. The most important thing is she’s looking after her health.”

Once it is all over, JB will go back to running his farm with wife Chloe, a former dancer, who’s been in the studio supporting him most weeks. The couple live on an 11-acre smallholding in Sevenoaks, Kent, with their two young children Ace and Chiara.

JB says the biggest surprise he has had on Strictly is how much his muscles ache – and never so much as they did last Saturday, despite him performing the type of moves he did with JLS. “Last week my body hurt the most that it has in the seven or eight weeks that we’ve been doing the show, which I wasn’t expecting.”

JB is delighted to have got further than his bandmate Aston Merrygold, who came 10th in the 2017 series. He laughs: “I’m winning in JLS. You get a lot of Brownie points for that!

“If I’m able to go all the way, just before the end of the year, then that’s it. That’s my Strictly journey done.”

He is just about allowing himself to have an eye on that Glitterball trophy. “There’s a little saying that my mum has, which is, ‘Someone has to do it, why can’t it be you?’ That’s in the back of my mind.”

• Strictly is on BBC1 at 6.35pm.