EXCLUSIVE: Strictly's pop trio slam 'fix' claims: 'We're terrified we'll look like wallies!'

Mollie King has insisted the three pop stars in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing don’t have an advantage over the class of 2017, and they’re “terrified” of looking “like wallies”.

The Saturdays singer, former JLS star Aston Merrygold and X Factor winner Alexandra Burke have come under fire for joining the amateur ballroom competition because they all have glittering pop star backgrounds, with hundreds of hours of dance training under their respective belts.

But speaking to Yahoo Celebrity UK, Mollie reasurred viewers and her fellow contestants – such as Ruth Langsford, Susan Calman and Reverend Richard Coles – that she’s not a pro at shaking her hips and moving her feet and the pressure on them to do well is terrifying.

She told us: “I think that we’re used to being disciplined to a certain to degree but I think there is a sort of expectation that people will have, but Aston and I, we’re both terrified because it’s a whole new world for both of us. We don’t want to look like complete wallies.

“There is so much for us to learn. Obviously we’re lucky that we have performance experience. But this is a whole new world of dance. It’s madness.”

And Ashton admitted he has no experience of the Cha Cha Cha and waltzing, but he’s excited to explore a whole new genre of performing.

“I’m actually just quite excited to try a whole new form of performance,” he told us.

And he’s not worried about going up against his former X Factor rival Alexandra, who won Simon Cowell’s talent show in 2008, because he’s so excited to see her in action.

He added: “I’ve said to her, ‘It’s round two!’ But I love Alex, she has so much charisma and talent. She’s an incredible woman. I actually can’t wait to see her dance.”

Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday at 7pm on BBC One.