Strictly Come Dancing: Robin Windsor returns for show's first ever same-sex dance
The professional dancer partnered with Aljaz Skorjanec on Sunday night
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Your support makes all the difference.Professional dancers Robin Windsor and Aljaz Skorjanec have won praise for becoming the first same-sex couple to take to the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom.
Fans of the popular BBC show were generally excited to see the two men dancing together during the tongue-in-cheek ‘Cops and Robbers’ performance on Sunday night, which also saw two female dancers briefly pair up.
“There were two couples of girls and two couples of boys. Had no-one actually brought up that it was a same-sex dance, I don’t think anyone would have noticed,” Windsor wrote in his TV column for The Mirror.
Windsor, who has been unable to mentor a celebrity this series due to a back injury, is a strong advocate for same-sex partners on Strictly and has spoken about the possibility before.
“I’m not sure if the British public are ready for it on the main show, but I think it would be a good idea to do it on a Children in Need special or the Christmas show,” he told the Daily Star.
“It would be a good way to test the waters. Then, if the public love it, why not go all out and do it for a full series? I’m up for anything.”
Gay Radio 1 host Scott Mills, who took part in the current series, insisted that it was not homophobic of Strictly producers to pair him with a female professional.
“If there is homophobia over Strictly Come Dancing then the show wouldn’t exist,” he told Metro in September. “It’s all in the hands of the producers, although apparently it doesn’t work as well in things like ballroom.”
A BBC spokesperson said at the time that a same-sex couple on Strictly “wouldn’t be ruled out” but there are “no plans for it in the immediate future”.
Wildlife TV presenter Steve Backshall became the eighth Strictly casualty last night when he left after a dance-off with Sunetra Sarker.
Host Claudia Winkleman returned to a standing ovation from the audience after taking three weeks off to care for her daughter who was burnt during a Halloween accident.
Windsor will next be seen dancing once again with TV presenter Lisa Riley for the Strictly Christmas special.
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