Toyah Willcox's surprise Strictly connection almost a decade before dancing on the show

Man and woman dancing
-Credit: (Image: Guy Levy/BBC/PA)


Singer-songwriter Toyah Willcox has taken to the Strictly Come Dancing dancefloor and she has a surprise connection to the show, that goes back almost a decade before the current series. Toyah is partnered with Neil Jones and most recently performed the jive on the BBC show.

Toyah actually teamed up with Strictly Come Dancing icon and former head judge Len Goodman in one of his BBC travel shows. She joined Len in a 2016 episode of his show Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman and the pair came to Wales.

They travelled along the Llangollen Canal in north Wales where Toyah reminisced about a wonderful narrow boat holiday she had back in 1968. Len surprised Toyah by picking her up in the Golden Lark which is a beautiful narrow boat similar to the one she would have holidayed in back in 1968.

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Along the way they test their artistic side by painting trays just like ones that adorn the sides of the narrow boats, they tuck into a vintage picnic with the all-important pork pie and they visit an antiques shop like the ones her father would have taken her to whilst on holiday. One of the highlights is Toyah manning the tiller to negotiate the boat across a 127 feet aqueduct.

Man and woman smiling
Toyah and Len together -Credit:Daily Post Wales

Len appeared as head judge on Strictly Come Dancing from the first ever series in 2004 until 2016, where he was succeeded by current judge Shirley Ballas. Len passed away in 2023 aged 78.

So far Toyah is one of the lowest scoring celebrities on the show and viewers have predicted that she might face elimination after detecting "tension" between her and dance partner Neil. You can read more, here.