HE’S notched up a string of dancefloor tens, regularly tops the Strictly leaderboard and stands a good chance of winning the famous Glitterball trophy.
But JB Gill is most impressed with the fact he’s lost almost 2st while dancing on the BBC show.
Over the past three months, the JLS singer has been put through his paces — first with Amy Dowden, then with Lauren Oakley — and as a result has shed weight at an extraordinary rate.
But JB’s new slim frame hasn’t gone down as well as you might expect with his wife of ten years.
He laughed: “I’m already getting it in the neck from Chloe, she’s just so jealous!
“All my trousers are too big. Honestly, it’s actually a joke. I went on It Takes Two this week and my trousers, they’re a 34 regular, which is my normal size . . . I could get a fist in between my hip and the trousers. It’s ridiculous.
“I’m probably a 32 or less now. I haven’t been a 32 since I was at school. That’s how bad it is”
The 37-year-old star’s weight loss is down to the fact he’s been putting in more than ten hours of training in rehearsals every day since September
But even though he enters tonight’s quarter-final as one of the favourites to win, it’s fair to say JB’s journey on the BBC dance show has been far from plain sailing.
He started out paired with Welsh beauty Amy Dowden, who was making her return to the dance floor after completing chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Stress fracture
But in week six of the competition she suffered a stress fracture on her shin and had to pull out, with fellow pro Lauren taking her place.
The two dancers worked round the clock to make sure Lauren was up to speed with how JB worked in the rehearsal room.
They even set up a group WhatsApp for the “handover”.
Lauren revealed: “Obviously, when stepping in for somebody, you feel like you don’t want to tread on anybody’s toes. But Amy was super- supportive. We were really communicative, and both our aims were to do the best for JB.
“My focus was on making sure that the transition was as smooth as possible. And at that point, Amy had already worked with JB for six weeks. She knew his strengths. So to have that handover for me was really helpful because all of the other couples had already figured out their teaching styles and what they were good at.”
The hard work has certainly paid off.
Since Lauren stepped in, JB has seen his scores with the judges rocket.
In their first week together they notched up a near-perfect score of 39 for their couples’ choice.
And they have gone on to pick up four more tens from the Strictly judges and even won last weekend’s sambathon.
It’s a real turnaround seeing as JB was in the dance-off the week before Amy’s exit from the show, when the judges sent footballer Paul Merson packing instead.
So does he feel like he’s gone from zero to hero?
JB said with a laugh: “Yeah! It’s just been amazing for me to express myself musically.
“I think that has been the turning point, really — just being able to have routines that perhaps compliment me and my style a bit more.
“I’ve been able to really enjoy the dancing. It made the difference.”
And with the Strictly final just two weeks away, the star now has his sights set on being a contender for the glitzy crown.
He’s no stranger to a talent show finale because JLS were runners-up against Alexandra Burke in the 2008 X Factor final.
Now he’s hoping to go one better and finally take home a title — even if he is not the bookies’ favourite to triumph.
The singer said: “You have to have your eye on the prize because you’ve got to be in it to win it.
“With any final, sometimes the underdogs can go and win it.
“All we can do is put our best foot forward and make sure our routines are the best that we can do them — the rest is down to the power of the people.
“This is slightly different to X Factor because I think coming second was probably the right thing for us at that time, although we were desperate to win.
“I think it definitely did help our career as JLS, but I still have a career — as does everybody else in the show.
“Winning Strictly would really be the icing on the cake. We’ve worked incredibly hard and we’ve gone through challenges as well.
“If you can go all the way and pick up the trophy, then it’s an incredible achievement for all the hard work that you put in.”
One person who knows what it’s like to win is JB’s former X Factor rival Alexandra Burke, who also made the Strictly final in 2017.
The pair have been friends for 16 years and she has been backing him all the way.
Stiff competition
He said: “From the very beginning she’s been incredibly supportive and she just said, ‘Just do you, work hard, do the best that you can. The final is something that is unique and you’ve just got to focus on what you’re doing.’
“It’s just about zoning into that, I think. And showcasing your best and working hard.”
JB has stiff competition from the likes of blind comic Chris McCausland, 47, who is the bookies’ favourite to win.
And reality star Pete Wicks, 36, has surprised everyone by remaining in the competition even though he almost always ends up at the bottom of the leaderboard.
Pete has even revealed he received death threats because he managed to avoid the dance-off.
But JB says the reality star, who is a close pal, is exactly what Strictly is about, and if he makes the final, he deserves his chance at the trophy.
JB said: “This show is all about someone like him, who doesn’t have dance experience at all, who comes and learns something and you really see a genuine improvement week on week, so more power to him.”
Despite the obvious camaraderie between the competitors, JB has been pulling out all the stops in a bid to ensure he triumphs on Strictly.
As well as knocking back ginger shots, he’s been freezing his own glitter balls in ice baths and cryotherapy chambers.
JB explained: “The body goes through a lot. My hamstring was a little bit angry last week.
“But, honestly, we’ve got such a great team around us. There’s a great team of physios and so on.
“I haven’t had any major injuries — touch wood. I’ve been doing all the ice baths and cryotherapy. Whatever you can do, you do.
“We take our ginger shots. We have our juices. You’ve got to fuel your body well and try to get as much rest as possible too, and I think we’ve been good so far.”
Tonight JB will take on Musicals Week and perform a Viennese waltz to Let’s Go Fly A Kite from Mary Poppins.
And his time on Strictly has given him the bug to try something else out of his comfort zone.
He’s now thinking of swapping the ballroom for treading the boards in the West End.
He said: “You know, Craig Revel Horwood said one week that I was becoming the showman.
“So, yeah, listen, I would definitely be up for the West End!”
But first he has to conquer the dancefloor before he can fully take to the stage.
- Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight on BBC One at 7.05pm.
