Strictly star Lawrence Robb reveals truth about 'dance experience' before BBC show
Emmerdale actor Lawrence Robb has insisted his past experience dancing won't help him on Strictly.
Lawrence Robb has admitted he has a "teeny bit of basic dance experience".
The Emmerdale actor is one of the celebrities gracing the ballroom for the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, and while he's not a total novice after studying at The Dance School of Scotland and appearing in some musical theatre productions, he insisted his limited skills won't give him an advantage.
Speaking to the Radio Times magazine, Lawrence confessed that he does have "a teeny bit of basic dance experience", but "absolutely not" in a way that will help.
He added: "I can give you a solid step click, and that's abut it. When it comes to Latin, ballroom, absolutely not.
"So I think Jowita's got her work cut out for her, but I'm looking forward to helping her work through that."
The 34-year-old soap star was paired with Jowita Przysta on last weekend's launch show, and he admitted being on the show hasn't "properly sunk in it".
He added: "There's been so much that's happened in such a short period of time that the overwhelming sense of everything is still all very real."
Meanwhile, Lawrence refused to give any details on his Emmerdale break to do Strictly, with his character Mackenzie Boyd being scaled back while he's on the show.
He teased: "We won't go into storylines, but you won't see as much of Mackenzie on the show while I'm on the ballroom."
His comments come after co-star Emma Atkins, who plays Mackenzie's wife Charity Dingle, admitted he was written out at the "last minute" after getting the call.
She told The Sun newspaper: "We were filming a scene where we had to get him out so he could go and do it as he’d just got the phone call [from Strictly] and they wrote him out very quickly.
"He has this moment where he tells Charity he is going to work in Germany, and at the end of the scene I say ‘go on then, you may as well go’ and he does this little flick [like a shimmy] and I was like ‘the audience are going to know’, it was very, very well done."
She noted that Lawrence has to "knuckle down and dance his little socks off", and she's "excited" to see his progress.
However, she added: "He has the rhythm and I think he will go on a journey and will get better, better and better.
"He was quite nervous at first, It’s good to be nervous, it means you care.
“I love him and he’s part of my furniture at work and I’ll miss him. We’re a team, so now it’s like ‘where’s my wingman gone?'”
