Shirley Ballas says Angela Rippon inspired her to do leggy magazine shoot

Strictly Come Dancing's head judge Shirley Ballas has told how the show's oldest ever contestant Angela Rippon inspired her to show off her legs.

Ballas, 63, said that seeing the broadcaster reveal her legs in an incredible standing splits move in her debut live show had lead her to be more daring in a magazine shoot.

Rippon, who will turn 79 in October, is the oldest celebrity ever to have taken part in the BBC One contest but has been giving much younger co-stars a run for their money with her light-footed, flexible routines with partner Kai Widdrington.

In her first performance of the series, a Cha Cha to Shirley Bassey's Get the Party Started, Rippon had stunned the judges and viewers as she extended her leg up into the air in a splits position.

Ballas, appearing on This Morning on Wednesday, admitted: "It inspired me, I did a magazine shoot a few days later and thought, you know what? I'm going to get my legs out at 63.

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"So I wore all short dresses.

"She inspired me to be all that you can be and not be frightened of who you are and what you are, so she is phenomenal."

Ballas recently told how she had given Tom Cruise private Salsa lessons to impress his then wife Nicole Kidman years ago, but said that he had never paid her despite being one of Hollywood's biggest stars.

This Morning host Josie Gibson checked with Ballas whether sharing the story had prompted him to pay up, but Ballas replied: "He still hasn't paid me for those private lessons that I gave him, three hours. Come on Tom, if you're out there, get your cheque book out."

Dancer Ballas was on Wednesday's show to promote her debut novel, Murder on the Dancefloor, a steamy thriller set in the world of competitive ballroom dancing.

But she said that truth could definitely be stranger than fiction, as she revealed: "The true world of ballroom dancing is very much more sinister.

"Lies, backstabbing, bed-hopping, sex, manipulation, people will do anything to get where they need to go."

Ballas told hosts Gibson and Holly Willoughby of the events in her novel: "You as the reader are going to have to guess - did I witness it, did I take part in it, or is it fiction?"