{"id":67365,"date":"2023-09-26T00:46:22","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T00:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newcelebworld.com\/?p=67365"},"modified":"2023-09-26T00:46:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T00:46:22","slug":"angela-rippons-strictly-game-plan-revealed-including-her-diet-beauty-regime-cooking-mistake-she-always-avoids-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newcelebworld.com\/tv-movies\/angela-rippons-strictly-game-plan-revealed-including-her-diet-beauty-regime-cooking-mistake-she-always-avoids-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"Angela Rippon's Strictly game plan revealed including her diet, beauty regime & cooking 'mistake' she always avoids | The Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

AS Strictly\u2019s oldest ever contestant, telly veteran Angela Rippon stunned viewers with her sensational footwork and eye-watering leg raise on Saturday\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

The 78-year-old\u2019s spectacular routine may have surprised those watching the BBC1 dance contest, yet she has always blazed a trail during her six-decade career.<\/p>\n


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After landing a string of jobs that were previously the preserve of men or the upper classes, she is now proving that mature women can compete with rivals a quarter of their age.<\/p>\n

Angela, who turns 79 next<\/span> month, said: \u201cI look at the younger people and I know I\u2019m not as fit or strong, that\u2019s just a medical fact.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I play tennis, I go to Pilates and ballet classes, so I\u2019m pretty fit for someone of my age.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told my pro partner, Kai Widdrington, there are things I can do and things I can\u2019t. I just want to do everything properly. I\u2019ve told him, \u2018Challenge me\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kai certainly did that when he helped Angela deliver a cha-cha to dance anthem Get The Party Started, by Shirley Bassey, during Strictly\u2019s first live show.<\/p>\n

She received a standing ovation from the studio audience, judge Motsi Mabuse and head judge Shirley Ballas.<\/p>\n

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Angela finished joint third on the scoreboard, just one point behind 20-year-old EastEnders actor Bobby Brazier, and four adrift of top-placed actor Nigel Harman, 28 years her junior.<\/p>\n

The reaction on social media was explosive, with sports presenter and fellow former Strictly performer Dan Walker saying: \u201cGive her the glitterball now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And Angela\u2019s pro partner Kai seemed to speak for the nation when he took to Instagram to call her performance \u201ciconic\u201d.<\/p>\n

For many, the decision to sign up for Strictly would be a bold one, but for Angela \u2014 who hosted the show\u2019s more sedate precursor Come Dancing from 1988 to 1991 \u2014 it was a question of \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n

She told Radio Times: \u201cI love to dance. <\/p>\n

"I\u2019ve been associated with dancing for a very long time, and this will be the opportunity to do what so many people say to me, \u2018God, I\u2019d love to go on that programme\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cDancing with one of those professionals, learning to do it properly in the hands of an expert, the frocks, the glamour, the whole nine yards. Why would you not?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the question that Plymouth-born Angela has asked herself at every point in her career in media \u2014 and why she has never worried about so-called \u201cglass ceilings\u201d blocking her rise.<\/p>\n


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In 1975, aged 30, she became Britain\u2019s first permanent female national newsreader.<\/p>\n

It was no mean feat, given that the Beeb\u2019s screens were still full of Oxbridge-educated, middle-class, middle-aged men.<\/p>\n

In contrast she had been born to Edna, a seamstress, and John, a Royal Marine, and had left school at 17 before working her way up through local newspapers and regional TV.<\/p>\n

But after landing the job of fronting BBC One\u2019s main evening bulletin The Nine O\u2019Clock News, her star rose so quickly that the following year she starred in Morecambe and Wise\u2019s Christmas show \u2014 revealing a whole new side.<\/p>\n

In a sketch that began with her reading some grim news headlines, she then stood up and began a high-kicking dance routine with Eric and Ernie to Let\u2019s Face The Music And Dance.<\/p>\n

In 1977 she became the first host of Top Gear, then in 1983 she co-hosted the first ever Good Morning Britain breakfast show for TV-am on ITV, some 31 years before Susanna Reid<\/span> did the same on the modern incarnation. <\/p>\n

From 1988 to 1991 she was also the first female presenter of Come Dancing \u2014 which gave her some surprising connections to Strictly.<\/p>\n

Angela said: \u201cI feel like a grandmother! When I met one of the senior choreographers for Strictly, he said, \u2018You won\u2019t remember, but I was a contestant on Come Dancing\u2019. <\/p>\n

"One of the professionals told me, \u2018I\u2019m a dancer because of you. I stayed up late to watch Come Dancing and you were the presenter\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd three of the other pros told me their teachers were contestants as well. <\/p>\n

"It has come full circle, from the late Eighties to now. It\u2019s super that they all said that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being showered with admiration and praise, she remains humble about the fact that she is still working in TV as co-host of BBC One consumer show Rip Off Britain, as well as doing Strictly.<\/p>\n

And Angela \u2014 who was married to engineer Christopher Dare for 22 years until 1989 \u2014 is still determined to continue breaking those glass ceilings.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI want to be allowed to go on working in a profession that I adore for as long as I\u2019m able and for as long as people will employ me.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople told me, \u2018They\u2019ll never employ anyone over 50\u2019. <\/p>\n

"Well, there\u2019s me, Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville, and we\u2019re in year 15 of Rip Off Britain \u2014 we\u2019re still hanging in there.\u201d<\/p>\n