Harry Judd: ‘I Never Thought I’d Do Strictly Come Dancing But I’m Glad I Did’ - EXCLUSIVE
Now that it’s officially October (we know, this year’s gone quicker than a packet of mini muffins left on our desk), the cold, dark nights are drawing in and every day, we get one step closer to turning our heating on.
Luckily, there are SOME things to look forward to about the coming months, including the fact that we managed to grab McBusted’s lovely Harry Judd for a chat on an actual rooftop on a gloriously sunny day to talk about the new season of The Walking Dead, Strictly Come Dancing, and all things Halloween.
Yep, we hate to alarm you but Halloween is just around the corner, so it’s time to get thinking about last minute costume you might throw on this year.
If you’re anything like that us, that is.
Luckily, to celebrate The Walking Dead’s upcoming sixth season, NOW TV are making ours lives a little easier by creating a unisex fragrance to combat any unwanted ‘Walker’ attention you might receive this year, meaning you can party as a mouse, duh, all you like without the fear of a zombie eating your brains.
Fronting the fragrance is former Strictly winner Harry (AKA probably one of the most attractive zombies you could pick), and besides wanting to know what he’s got up his sleeve for this year’s spooky holiday, we couldn’t resist asking who he thinks might excel on the dancefloor this year.
Admitting that he would definitely be tuning in to the show, Harry exclusively told Yahoo Celebrity: “I think it’s hard [to decide who might be good in this year’s competition].
“I remember my year, everyone was like ‘oh Jason Donovan’s gonna win and Harry will be good’ and they put pressure on certain people and you just wanna stay under the radar, so I want to watch tonight and tomorrow [last weekend] and see how they do after that.”
Asked if he’d given Jay McGuiness any advice, since he’s dancing with Aliona Vilani, the same professional Harry danced with, he told us: “Just over Twitter, I just wished him good luck and just said make sure you do as you’re told. But apparently he’s good so…
“I did Rugby Aid a few weeks ago with Tom Parker and he was saying Jay’s a good dancer, the rest of them were the reason they didn’t want to dance in that band. Jay was up for dancing so now he’s got his chance.”
But could there be any more reality shows in Harry’s future? Don’t get your hopes up right this second, as he explained: “Not at the moment, I’ve had my reality fix for the next few years. Never say never. I never thought I’d do Strictly until I got persuaded and I’m glad I did so who knows. I think there’s a lot of good things out there.”
Of course, he’s got a busy year ahead of him, as his wife Izzy is pregnant with their first child. N’aww!
Speaking about becoming a dad, Harry said: “Just excited at the moment, I think as it draws nearer I’ll probably get a bit more nervous but I’m very excited.”
With bandmates Tom Fletcher and Matt Willis both having kids themselves (and Tom’s wife being pregnant with their second little one), Harry’s got a tonne of support to fall back on, something he’ll definitely be bearing in mind.
“I think I’m gonna have that up my sleeve, I think they’re obviously pretty experienced,” he admitted. “My sister’s got two kids, there’s my mum and Izzy’s mum. We’ll take all the advice we can get.”
Before he gets stuck into changing nappies and pots of baby food, Harry’s got his hands full with Eau de Walker, a fragrance Izzy probably won’t be gifted with at Christmas on account of it being, in his words, ‘pretty gross’.
The McBusted and McFly perfected his ‘blue steel, concerned and angry’ gaze for the ‘amazing’ fragrance shoot, which made him feel like a ‘movie star’.
Explaining why he got involved in The Walking Dead campaign, Haz told us: “It’s just your quintessential apocalyptic zombie series. It ticks all the boxes of zombie drama, but there’s more to it.
“It’s one of those shows that at the end of every episode, you’re like, ‘OK I’ve gotta watch the next one now’, so it’s very gripping and the more I watch it, the more I think ‘yeah I could handle myself in that situation’. Give me a bow and arrow, like one of the main characters [Darryl] and I’ll be fine.
“It’s a scenario that people would imagine how they’d deal with it and so it’s just fascinating. If there was a zombie apocalypse, what would happen?”
Harry’s got a plan for if he was caught up in the middle of a zombie attack though, spilling: “I would just run, that would been a last, last, like a plan D probably for me. Plan A - Run. Plan B - Fight. Plan C - Hide. Plan D - Cover myself in zombie guts.”
Something tells us he’s thought about this before.
Of course, he’d hopefully have his McBusted bandmates with him to fight off the zombies, but who would survive the longest?
“Good question,” he said. “I think they’d all be relatively good actually. I think we’d all be quite good together, I think we’d all survive.
“My only concern would be James because he daydreams BUT he’s no mug, he’s no fool. He’s very very cautious as well, so if there was any fear of zombies he’d be very cautious.”
Asked which two members he’d pick for his team (if he could only have two, that is), he told us: “Okay I’m sorry but it wouldn’t be Dougie or James - It would be Matt, Tom and Danny.
“Danny is probably physically more able than Tom but Tom’s smart, and Matt’s physically able. [LONG PAUSE] So I would probably pick Matt and Tom. Also me and Danny giggle too much when we’re together, so we’d get too distracted.”
Speaking of McBusted, we were OBVIOUSLY keen to find out what’s next for the band and thankfully, Harry was happy to spill, revealing: “We’ve got the DVD coming out at Christmas. I’m looking forward to seeing that because there’s some footage on there that I know is going to be on there but I haven’t even seen it yet. It’s from both tours and a summary and some unseen footage and other bonus features.
“Then the babies. Gi’s pregnant again so January will be baby time and then we’ll see. Matt’s got two kids, Tom’s gonna have two, I’m gonna have one so we’re gonna have a five piece.
“I think the main writers in the band are always writing so I wouldn’t be surprised when we meet up if they say ‘I’ve got this idea’ ‘I’ve got that idea’ so it’s a continuing process but the good thing with McBusted is we never really plan anything so you just kinda go with the flow and it’s worked well so far.”
Before we let Harry get back to trying to figure out whether he would take his Walker mask home and stick it back on for Halloween, he revealed what he’s looking forward to about the new series of The Walking Dead: “Just finding out what happens!
“The end of season 5 was quite intense, so it’s just that thing whenever a show finishes and you just wanna start the next episode and then when you get to the end of it, you’re like oh f**king hell, I’ve gotta wait a few months now so we’re nearly there.
“It sounds weird but I kinda in a way, crave a real shock, like one of the main characters to maybe - something happens at the end of season 5 that was quite a shock so that kinda gave me a little bit of what I wanted.”
So, why should you buy their Halloween fragrance? Harry argued: “Well, at Halloween obviously there’s quite a few zombies and flesh-eating walkers around, so if you wanna stay well clear then make sure you pick up yourself a bottle of Eau de Walker.”
Noted, Harry.
The Walking Dead Season 6 starts 9pm Monday 12 October on FOX, available on NOW TV.