Pete Wicks on Strictly Come Dancing training: ‘I’ve learned a lot about my body’

Reality TV star Pete Wicks has said his Strictly Come Dancing training has left him “more mentally drained than physically drained”.

The 36-year-old said he had “learned a lot about my body” during training with professional dance partner Jowita Przystal.

The pair danced the Paso Doble to Breathe by The Prodigy during the first live episode of the 20th anniversary series of the BBC dancing show on Saturday.

Speaking about training for the show, Wicks said: “I’ve learned more about my body in this amount of time than anything.

“Obviously, there’s so much to learn when it comes to dancing, but I’ve never done it before, so I’m nowhere near knowing even a percent of what I need to know about dancing to be able to call myself a dancer.

“But what I have learned is a lot about my body and moving my body in ways that I’ve never moved it before.

“It’s so complex, like dancing as a whole, it would be disrespectful of me to even attempt to think that I know anything about it, even after a couple of weeks.

“But what I do know is more about how to move my body, and that’s all down to just listening to what Jowita tells me.

“I knew it was going to be physically taxing, what I didn’t expect was it was going to be mentally taxing as well.

“I mean that in a good way, it’s so much to take in, that I’m probably more mentally drained than I am physically drained, because it’s changing your whole perception of how your body moves, and trying to adjust to that is very difficult.

“I think what I’ve found hardest is finding a way for me to be able to move, getting my brain to tell my body what to do.”

Wicks went on to say that he did not think there “could be a better partner for me than Jowita” and said she was someone he “naturally” enjoyed being around.

The Harlow-born star said: “I don’t think there could be a better partner for me than Jowita, naturally we just get on really well, anyway.

“Coming into this, you spend so much time with your partner, more than anything, and they’re all great dancers.

“You’re going to learn something from everyone, but I wanted to be around someone that I could spend so much time with and just naturally enjoy being around.

“That’s exactly what I’ve got, because it makes everything so much easier. I literally could not have got a better person.”

Przystal added: “I agree with everything you said, sometimes you meet somebody and you feel like you’ve known them forever.

“I’ve had that with Pete, I feel like I’ve known him forever, and it definitely helps us in (the) rehearsal room as well.”

The next live episode of Strictly Come Dancing will be broadcast at 6.15pm on BBC One on Saturday.