STRICTLY Come Dancing star Zoe Lucker used to hate strutting her stuff at family functions.
But the Huddersfield actress, best known for her role as Tanya Turner in ITV’s Footballers’ Wives, has wowed a national audience of millions with her performances on the BBC One show.
She breezed through to the next round after two polished dances on Friday and Saturday.
But dad Paul, who lives in Honley, has told the Examiner former Lindley girl Zoe, 35, was not always so confident.
He said: “When she was asked to do Strictly, she had huge worries about whether she would pick it up and there’s a huge amount to learn in a short space of time.
“She genuinely didn’t know how she was going to get on because she’s not a dancer.
“At family dos and parties, she would be the one who would sit out.
“She probably took one look at her mum and dad dancing and thought, ‘No thanks’!”
Mum-of-one Zoe, who did A-levels at Huddersfield New College, and professional dance partner James Jordan impressed with their performance of the rumba on Saturday night.
Notoriously hard-to-please judge Craig Revel Horwood said the dance was “gobsmackingly good”.
Fellow judge Alesha Dixon added: “I loved it.”
And Bruno Tonioli said the chemistry between Zoe and James was “incredible”.
She scored 31 points out of 40 for the dance.
Added to the 30 points she got for her waltz on Friday night, her total of 61 put her in second place with the judges after two dances, before audience votes confirmed her place in the next round.
Dad Paul had gone to London to watch the show live in the BBC studios last weekend, when Zoe performed in a group dance.
But he watched her first individual dances this weekend at home.
He said: “It was quite scary until she did those first few steps, because we didn’t know how she would cope. But after the first few seconds we were cheering.
“When Zoe puts her mind to something, she doesn’t usually let herself down.”
Zoe revealed on Saturday’s show she had struggled with being intimate with her partner James Jordan, especially knowing her fiancé, James Herbert, was in the audience.
She said: “I feel a bit embarrassed and I know I have just got to let myself go.
“I don’t want to make anybody feel uncomfortable in the audience.”
Paul said: “Zoe has often said she’s quite a self-conscious person. Even when she was on Footballers’ Wives, people would see her doing outrageous things and would say ‘This woman certainly isn’t self-conscious’.
“But even now she’ll be thinking ‘I hope my grandad isn’t watching’.
“Being that intimate with someone is a huge act.”
