Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Lizzie Edmonds

Alesha Dixon shares Strictly predictions while suggesting next BGT series will be ‘best yet’

Alesha with fello BGT judges David Walliams, Simon Cowell and Amanda Holden

(Picture: PA)

Alesha Dixon has backed Tom Fletcher for 2021 Strictly Come Dancing victory while predicting the upcoming series of Britain’s Got Talent will be the “best yet.”

The singer, dancer and broadcaster, 43, won the fifth season of Strictly in 2007 with professional dancer Matthew Cutler. She also became a judge for the show in 2009.

Dixon, who shot to fame in 2001 as part of the girl group Mis-Teeq, said she hoped McFly star Fletcher would lift the glitterball trophy this year with dance partner Amy Dowden.

“I know Tom Fletcher really well, he is such a cool person. I am really happy for him,” she said. “I hope [he does well], he is such a sweet person. I love his whole family. I was judging on the show when Harry [Judd, Fletcher’s fellow McFly star] took part, he was phenomenal.”

Dixon has been a judge on Britain’s Got Talent for a decade. Filming for the ITV show was originally due to take place in January 2021 but was postponed because of the pandemic.

She confirmed the show is set to return in January 2022.

“We have the dates in the diary for the middle of January for auditions [to start]. It has been so weird, not having it this year. This panel… it would have been our tenth series. That is our routine, our life every year. To have that taken away was upsetting. Of course it was for the right reasons.

“We are ready to go and excited. It’s going to be like a party. It could potentially be the best one we have done yet.

“The four of us [judges] have not been in a room together - we have seen each other individually - but we’ve not been together. We are like a beautiful, dysfunctional family. I miss my family.”

Alesha for the LEGO campaign (LEGO)

Dixon also spoke about her collaboration with LEGO and its Rebuild the World campaign that encourages children to be creative. Dixon asked children to come up with a LEGO design for a problem facing their friends or family - with 8-year-old Amelie, who designed a new scooter for her grandmother, the winner.

Dixon said: “I loved the fact it celebrated children and their amazing, creative, problem solving abilities. Anything that encourages children to be creative and think outside the box and challenge them, I think is very cool.”

For more LEGO build ideas and examples of how children’s creative optimism can rebuild the world, visit LEGO.com/rebuild-the-world.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.