EXCLUSIVE: Strictly Come Dancing star La Voix has opened up about her time on the show and the nerves she feels ahead of the Blackpool special, as well as a potential presenting role
As one of Britain’s most recognisable drag performers, known for her powerhouse vocals, glittering gowns, comedic timing, and uncanny impersonations of icons like Liza Minnelli and Shirley Bassey, La Voix – the stage persona of Chris Dennis – has spent years commanding cabaret stages, selling out theatres, and appearing in television and film.
Yet stepping into the glittering ballroom of Strictly Come Dancing has been a new challenge.
The idea of stepping into the presenting shoes of Tess Daly or Claudia Winkleman excites her, after viewers have enjoyed all her hilarious quips and one-liners over the weeks and she says: “Strictly is the golden show of the BBC and I think anyone who’s in the presenting world is going to want to do that show. Of course, if the opportunity arose and I was asked to do it, I’m not going to say, no, am I? That would be the opportunity of a lifetime.”
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“And I was very focused on making it very clear that I wanted that a few weeks ago. But now I think I need to buckle down and get the dancing learned – otherwise, I might be out quicker than I get the interview.”
La Voix is also conscious of the significance of having a drag act on mainstream television. Reflecting on this, she shares: “There’s a lot of people who grew up with Lily Savage, Dame Edna Everage and also people like Mrs Merton, with Mrs Brown’s Boys on the television, it’s very popular family fun entertainment. Sometimes people see it as a risk, but it’s been done in the past and it was a golden age of television and it’d be wonderful to see that come back.”
Her journey has not been without moments of tension. After last week’s dance-off, she admits: “I thought, ‘Well, this is it. I’m going home.’ And I stood on that dance floor just before we did our final dance, and I looked at all the lights and the Strictly logos and the judges and I thought, ‘This is the last time I’m going to see all of this’. To be saved by the judges genuinely shocked me to the core.”
Looking ahead to Blackpool, she hopes to combine her comedic flair with technical skill: “I think if I do get to Blackpool, I want to really hone in on my strength, which is the comedy, the bravado, the big, larger than life bubbly character.”
“If I go home now, I’ve got further than I ever thought I would. I’d be massively disappointed, but I’d be very proud of my journey. But I’d love to make the quarters, semi, or grand final. And I think it’s so close, I’m driven to see if I could actually get there.”
And this week’s performance – a huge musical number set to Don’t Rain on My Parade – is particularly personal to her, which she expresses with warmth as she shares: “When I was a kid, my Dad used to love Barbra Streisand and all these big icons. And that’s where my love of music and singing came from. For this, we’re channeling that song as my sort of childhood passion.”
When La Voix decided to make the move out of RuPaul’s Drag Race and into Strictly Come Dancing, she thought she’d be gone by some point in October.
But now, as she prepares to perform her Couples’ Choice with partner Aljaz Skorjanec in week eight, she has her eyes firmly set on the Blackpool special.
She admits: “I was thinking maybe week two or three, four or five maybe, if I’m really lucky. To still be in on week eight and looking at Blackpool is mind-blowing for me, and so exciting. I just can’t thank people who voted enough. I’m having the time of my life and I’m finding it all very healing strangely, from having had a lack of self-belief.”
Source: Mirror
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