Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec became the first couple on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing to land a perfect score last weekend, after inspiring Craig Revel-Horwood to dust off his 10 paddle following their flawless American Smooth.
But fan favourite Aljaz wasn’t even in the 20th anniversary series until a few weeks before it launched, having quit after a nine-year stint in 2022. Hastily drafted in at the 11th hour when Graziano di Prima was sacked by the BBC for his “unacceptable behaviour” towards previous partner Zara McDermott, it would be understandable if Aljaz felt a little on the back foot.
However, flashing his trademark ear-to-ear grin, he says that becoming the first pro dancer in Strictly’s long history ever to be invited back onto the show has made him nothing but incredibly happy. “I replaced nobody,” he declares, when asked if his return felt bittersweet because of the circumstances. “I felt like coming back. I decided myself to step away, and then I came back into my own dancing shoes. And I'm still doing Strictly exactly the same way as I did before I left. And I'm really happy. I'm proud of it.”
Slovenian-born Aljaz announced in March 2022 that he had decided to quit, saying he had “lots of exciting stuff planned”. But later that year his wife, former Strictly dancer Janette Manrara, became pregnant with their first, longed-for child, and he decided that what he really wanted was to throw himself into fatherhood. “I sort of made that conscious decision, as soon as she fell pregnant, that I'm going to put everything else on hold,” he says now. “And it was actually advice from someone really close to me, who said that careers come and go, but time doesn't.”
Lyra, described as a “miracle baby” by Janette as she was about to begin IVF after years of trying to conceive, is now 16 months old. “I got to create this beautiful bond with my little girl,” Aljaz explains. “I feel that it was the best decision I ever made, and the second best was coming back to Strictly.”
Arriving at Elstree Studios this summer he said he knew the moment he set eyes on 26-year-old Tasha, who is trained in commercial dance and ballet but not in the Latin and ballroom featured on the show, that their pairing was “going to be brilliant”. The pair have since gone on to become the highest scoring couple in Strictly history, having scored 39 three times ahead of the big 4-0 last Saturday, meaning they’ve topped the leaderboard eight times over the 11 weeks. Not once have they found themselves in the dreaded dance off.
Judge Anton du Beke was moved to tears by their beautiful performance to Lewis Capaldi’s Someone You Love, which was dedicated to baby Lyra. Aljaz says that these types of emotional responses mean far more to him than the scores or even the glitterball troph, which he previously lifted in 2013 with model partner Abbey Clancy. “Trophies are a beautiful thing, but it's not the reason why I dance, or why I'm on Strictly,” he says. “I feel lucky that I'm one of the 15 professionals that gets to dance with a celebrity and gets to teach on a platform like this. Getting to the final, getting the accolades, it's a bit of a bonus, but it's not what drives me. It never has been. Strictly is an entertainment show, and it’s about making beautiful moments on TV. For me, the competition has always come secondary to that.”
While Tasha, from Thirsk in North Yorkshire, has received some criticism for having too much previous dance experience, they brush it off, arguing it’s daft because the routines she is learning are entirely new to her. The 26-year-old, who now lives with her long-term Love Island boyfriend Andrew Le Page in east London, made a living from her type of dancing until the pandemic. Now she is a firm favourite to reach the final but says she is fully focused on her job as an influencer and has no plans to return to dance as a career. “I would love to carry on by taking classes, especially ballroom, which is my favourite,” she says. “I just love the way it feels. The reason why I stopped dancing is because of Covid. I couldn't get any jobs and then I kind of lost my passion for it. Doing Strictly has put the joy back.”
While they look like an absolute shoo-in for the final, the pair are taking nothing for granted. “I take it week by week - because you never know when it's going to be your last,” Tasha says. “I want to just enjoy it for what it is and not think about the final and winning. That, to me, is not what I'm here for. I'm here to learn these dances and inspire many people out there with disabilities. That's why I'm doing the show.”
She herself was hugely inspired by deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, who gave her the confidence to apply for Love Island after winning the show alongside Giovanni Pernice in 2021. This year Tasha has also loved competing alongside blind comedian Chris McCausland, who she describes as “so funny but also really sweet”. “It's such a nice, inclusive mix this year. Chris is just incredible,” she adds.. “Rose really broke down doors and I've always looked up to her. I've got a different deaf experience to Rose and it's so lovely that we can both share our own stories. For me, it's about making all the little girls out there smile and just have someone to look up to, because I never had that when I was younger.”
Tasha says that sometimes hearing the music using her implant, which she often blings-up, can be a bit of a struggle. “Especially when we do it with the live band,” she explained. “In tango week, I couldn't hear the start of the song because everyone was applauding really loudly, and I was like, ‘Have we started?’ I couldn't figure it out.”
This week she’s finding the stiff and flicky Argentine Tango difficult to get to grips with, despite having two choreographers helping them with the routine to Ex-Wives from Six, for Musicals Week. “Oh, it's very hard. I mean, it's tough,” Tasha says. “They definitely pushed us this week. With Six, the storyline is about woman empowerment, I'm really all for that. So it’s going to be good I think.”
As they head back into the training room, there’s not many who would bet against this pair not making it right to the end. Tasha is not counting chickens but she would clearly love to be there. "Making it to the final would be the cherry on top, especially with Aljaz,” she beams. “It's been such a beautiful, magical journey. I've loved every single second.”
