THE Westlife singer has said his wife is constantly joking that his fake tan from the BBC dancing show is darker than hers.
THE wife of Strictly Come Dancing hunk Nicky Byrne has been keeping very close tabs on her husband. But not because Georgina, daughter of former Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is worried the Westlife star is getting too close to dance partner Karen Hauer.
Nicky, 34, laughed and said: “My wife is loving it and taking the mickey out of me.
“She says she constantly has to watch that my fake tan isn’t as dark as hers. When your wife is saying that you know you’ve got to be careful.”
Of course, Nicky is best known for massive-selling boyband Westlife, who called time after 14 years together in June.
During their time at the top, as well as 14 No 1 singles they also performed 27 sell-out shows at Wembley Arena in 10 years, shifting 250,000 tickets and making them the venue’s most successful pop band.
They sang one song at the venue for last year’s X Factor final and tonight Nicky is back – but this time he’s dancing.
And there’s no stools.
Laughing again, Nicky said: “Never say never. There’s been talk of using a Westlife song and incorporating one of them into a routine. I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I’m up for it.”
For those of you who don’t know Westlife, they became well known for sitting on stools singing one of their ballads.
Tonight, though, Nicky and Karen will be doing a jive to Elvis’s Jailhouse Rock in front of a live audience of 6000 people.
And Nicky can’t wait to set foot on the Wembley stage again – although he insists it will be very, very different to what he’s used to.
He said: “I’m absolutely buzzing that I made it to Wembley, but there’s so much pressure.
“I don’t want to get to Wembley, with all the history I have of it, and the dance to be a disaster. And I am nervous every single time I’ve got out on that Strictly stage.
“I get the fact I should have the upper hand because I’m used to crowds, but Strictly is such an enclosed environment. You’re counting. You’re trying to remember your moves and you don’t want to mess up.”
Of course, being on Strictly won’t be the same as singing to thousands of Westlife fans, but backstage Nicky will very comfortable.
He grinned and added: “It will feel like a bit of a homecoming backstage, walking around the corridors and going into the dressing rooms.
“But in terms of going out performing, it’s completely different.
“Wembley has always been really good for Westlife.
“In 2006 we got to put our hands in concrete outside the main entrance because of all the shows we’ve played, which is really, really cool.
“From the day we did it I’ve never been back to see it, so I’m looking forward to that.”
As far as he knows, none of his former Westlife buddies will be at Wembley, although Shane Filan and his wife were in the audience last Saturday.
And he won’t be expecting his former manager Louis Walsh who is, of course, a judge on rival show The X Factor – although there will be some banter on the phone.
Nicky said: “Thankfully I’m on the show that’s winning the ratings war, which is always the place you want to be.
“Maybe if Louis leaves The X Factor he can do Strictly next year.
“I’d love to see him doing a foxtrot. That would be interesting.”
Always a nice guy, Nicky wouldn’t stick the boot in about Strictly beating The X Factor by an incredible two million viewers last weekend.
He said: “The X Factor is still a big show. It hasn’t had its best year ratings-wise.”
However, he does have an idea why viewers are flocking to Strictly.
He said: “People love to see other people being challenged and if it’s well-known people it has a bit more edge.
“You want someone that you know well for something else, trying something
brand new.
“And I think the dancing quality this year is higher than it has been for a number of years.”
Nicky burst out laughing and added: “Which hasn’t worked in my favour because there are some brilliant dancers.” It’s true Nicky hasn’t been at the top of the leaderboard with Denise Van Outen or Olympian Louis Smith, but he hasn’t been in the bottom two like Kimberley Walsh was last week.
Westlife fans are keeping voting and he’s doing enough for many of you to want to see him back.
But he’s determined to catch up with the leaders.
He said: “I don’t want to be making up the numbers.
“I want to go as far as I can in the competition and when I walk away on that unfortunate day I want to be thinking I’ve really learned something.”
Despite the thrill of No 1s and touring the world, Nicky admitted Strictly has completely blown him away.
He said: “It’s the best show on television.
“It’s changed my life.
“I’m going to the ballroom world championships next,” he joked.
“Having done the same thing with Westlife for so long, it’s been a challenge.
“But now I feel the world is my oyster, I can do what I like.
“Right now I feel I have no regrets. I want to put everything I have into the show and then see what is next, with presenting on the telly and radio and acting, hopefully down the road.”
Although he’s always been fit, Nicky has found it hard to keep changing posture for the different styles of dancing and describes the mental side, remembering the moves, as a “brain fuzz”.
Although he is one of the nicest guys in pop, he even revealed he sometimes kicks over bottles of water in training out of aggression.
He couldn’t even go to his beloved Celtic’s game with Barcelona, in which they beat them 2-1. He was glued to the television and admitted that if he’d been next to Rod Stewart, who burst into tears after the second goal, he’d have been “bawling and hugging him, too”.
Dance partner Karen has been patient with him and is also finding her feet, given this is her first year on the show, so she is still working out what content the judges like.
At the beginning of the show, Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli both hit out at their performance, which included an illegal lift.
Bruno told Karen: “It looked like you were dancing with a cardboard cut-out.”
Nicky, father of twin boys Jay and Rocco, five, said: “I can take it on the chin but one of the boys had tears in his eyes when I was getting ripped apart.
“They don’t want to see daddy getting criticised. But they are loving it. Every Sunday they tell me my scores.”
Since then, Dublin-born Nicky has been getting better and better.
But he knows it can change in an instant, pointing out that Kimberley Walsh found herself in the bottom two last week.
He said: “In my eyes she is one of the favourites to win and I was shocked she was in the bottom two.
“It just goes to show how important that public vote is, because she scored really well with the judges.
“So thank you for voting for me and keep it up if you can.
“Please keep me in there.”
Strictly Come Dancing is on tonight, BBC1, 6.30pm.
Credit/Source: dailyrecord.co.uk | westlife.gr
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