Jamie Borthwick, 30, has appeared in BBC One soap EastEnders for 18 years and he’s now hoping to follow in some of his predecessors’ footsteps by winning the Glitterball Trophy
EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick won last year’s Strictly Christmas special so when he was asked to dance his way through a whole series, the answer was a no-brainer.
“It was the easiest yes!” he said. “This is a fresh challenge and it will be so different to be learning a new dance every week and for the public to have their say. I’m hoping to be Salsa-ing around Albert Square in no time.”
Previous stars of the BBC One soap who have competed on the show include 2004 winner Jill Halfpenny and 2010 champion Kara Tointon. Jamie, 30, competed with Nancy Xu to win the Christmas Special title but this time around, Michelle Tsiakkas will be his coach and dance partner.
The star largely likes to keep his relationship status private but in 2017 he told Digital Spy about his teenage crush on co-star Emma Barton, who plays Honey Mitchell.
Jamie was a teenager when he tried to chat up co-star Emma Barton (Image: BBC / Jack Barnes)
Emma plays Honey Mitchell and Jamie, who joined the soap as Jay Brown when he was 12, said: “I was about 14 when I first set eyes on Emma Barton. I fell in love with her long, shapely legs and I wanted to marry her.
“Perry [Fenwick, who plays Billy] told me to chat her up, and I remember walking over to her and saying: ‘Alright darlin’… Wow, you smell nice’. It brought the house down and we still laugh about it now.”
Jamie still loves working with Emma and jokes: ‘I still try and chat her up and say that one day we’ll get married, but she’s having none of it!’ The star was first introduced to the soap as Jay when his character arrived for the funeral of his grandmother, Evie Brown. Jay then moved in with his grandad Bert Atkinson and quickly emerged as a troubled kid, breaking into houses and using racist language.
Things grew from bad to worse when the tearaway’s father Jase Dyer was murdered by gangsters, leaving him under the care of the Mitchells. Thankfully, he’s now a much-loved resident of Walford who cared for his late wife Lola Pearce when she had terminal cancer.
Offscreen, rumours about him dating former co-star Jazzy Phoenix have been swirling since late last year, after the actress who played Nadine Keller uploaded a photo of her resting her head on his shoulder. He was previously linked to actress Danielle Harold too, who played his onscreen wife Lola.
Jamie won’t be taking a breakfrom the soap for his stint on Strictly, telling the Mirror: “We’re lucky – EastEnders is literally filmed across the road, there’s not far to go and I’ve just budgeted that I’m going to be a bit N/A for the next however long.”
