“Everyone looked amazing, all dressed up – hair, make up, and there I am, little scabby O’Brien with socks on my hands. I just thought – it’s not where it’s at!”
Ah, the glamour of Strictly Come Dancing.
But what Tina O’Brien is recalling, as we sit in the middle of a very empty, rather chilly ECHO arena, wasn’t her costume for the Saturday night dance series’ special Hallowe’en show.
Instead the former Corrie actress is reliving the moment she went down with chicken pox in the middle of rumba rehearsals.
“It’s just not glamorous in the slightest,” she laughs. “I was sitting at home covered in calamine lotion.”
It was the Beeb that insisted the contagious 27-year-old and her partner Jared Murillo sit out that weekend’s show, with Tina keen to carry on.
She recalls: “Even the day I came down with chicken pox we were training eight hours. I was going, I’ve got a temperature, so I just drugged myself up and carried on.”
Jared empathises: “What’s funny is you reminded me of when I had chicken pox as a kid and I remember Momma put me in a hot bath and I was itching and hated it.”
The pair came back with a cheeky Charleston and an athletic Argentine Tango before being knocked out of the competition.
But now they’re set to get a second chance to show what they can do when the Strictly Live tour arrives at the ECHO arena for three days in January.
“I’m so excited for this tour because of all the screaming fans,” says Utah-raised Jared who started dancing at six, and whose showbiz career blossomed via the movie and live tour of High School Musical.
“It’s quite an adrenalin rush to hear the piercing screams of fans, it’s quite interesting to be on the receiving end.”
“That’s High School Musical,” Tina points out. “This audience might be slightly more mature. Well, it will be a mixed bag I reckon. I think what’s really good about Strictly is that it appeals to such a wide range of ages.”
The Manchester-born actress speaks from experience now, but she admits that before she was approached to take part she’d never actually seen the BBC’s Saturday night dance extravaganza.
And the idea of taking part in a live show was also a challenge.
She says: “The majority of the stuff I’d been doing was TV where if you go wrong you get to do another take. So the idea of getting one chance was quite terrifying.
“But in the first show I really messed up my footwork in the Cha Cha.
“And I actually found it quite funny, and I know that sounds awful, because the second I did it I thought – I’ve done it now so I’ll just enjoy the rest of it.”
The mum-of-one was well drilled by her 22-year-old professional partner however, who says he was pleased how receptive and hard working she was.
High praise from a man whose parents run one of the largest ballroom dancing schools in their state, and who has created choreography for High School Musical.
Meanwhile Tina’s move away from her role as Sarah-Louise Platt and into other arenas also includes a recent appearance in Jimmy McGovern’s Accused.
“He’s brilliant, he’s just amazing,” she enthuses. “It’s great to have a Jimmy McGovern drama on the CV. I’d love to do more of that kind of thing.”
Strictly Live comes to the ECHO arena from January 24-26.
Source.
Airs: Sat. at 6 & Sun. at 7:30 on BBC One
