Lowe predicts early Whittle 10 score

Professional dancer Natalie Lowe has predicted that her partner Ricky Whittle will score a 10 in his opening week on Strictly Come Dancing.

The Hollyoaks actor will make his debut on the BBC One reality series tonight. However, his Australian partner is already confident that he will impress the judges.

On spinoff show It Takes Two, host Claudia Winkleman told him: "Natalie says that you are going to break Strictly history and might get a 10 in your first dance."

The Oldham-born star responded: "That's outrageous pressure! To be fair to her, she's a fantastic teacher and she's the most amazing choreographer. She will always be a 10 because she's amazing - the only thing that will let us down is me."

Whittle compared Lowe to Karate Kid character Mr Miyagi, claiming that she has magical training methods.

"She tricks me into doing things. She does the whole wax on, wax off thing," he joked. "She will say things like, 'pretend you're walking down the street with change in your pocket, but you're trying to not make it jingle'. And then all of a sudden I'm doing the Rhumba. Genius!"

Strictly continues tonight at 8.30pm on BBC One.