Strictly’s Eddie Kadi says partner Karen Hauer bootcamps him every day

Strictly Come Dancing contestant Eddie Kadi has been putting his all into learning his dance steps. However, before dance partner Karen Hauer gives him his daily choreography, she insists Eddie completes a daily bootcamp. According to Karen, strong muscles are the basis of good dancing because they lead to better posture.

And judges Craig Revel-Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke are always looking for good posture when they award their scores. “She makes me work my glutes, that’s my buttocks!” exclaims Eddie, 40. “I have a six-pack on my bottom right now that I’m really proud of. I’m sore! If I’m not sore, Karen’s not happy.”

It might be tough, but Karen insists that dancers need to be strong to hold the correct posture – something the judges have regularly pulled Eddie up on.

“We do a 30-minute workout,” explains Karen, 41. “Right now I am doing core but we do legs and posture, too. We focus on different things every day to make him strong. People think dancing gets you fit, which it does with stamina and cardio, but it’s important that your muscles are strong so you can hold the frame and create line.”

Karen’s Strictly workout involves many exercises and she’s even thinking of installing a bar in the studio where they’re training to make Eddie do pull-ups. “I need him to be strong from the inside out,” she says, mercilessly. “We do press-ups, rows, running, lunges… Everything you can think of to strengthen those muscles.”

The training is intense but Eddie is already feeling the benefits. “I feel fantastic,” he says. “I feel different. I feel more energy. There is a difference in the way I’m walking. This morning I felt my triceps. They said, ‘Hello, we’re here for you!’ And my traps [trapezius muscle] on my back, because I’ve been working on my posture, my traps are so strong!”

While Karen is eager to bring out Eddie’s potential on the dance floor, Eddie wants to return the favour and nurture Karen’s talent for comedy, as they both share a childish sense of humour.

“Karen is hilarious,” says Eddie. “We have similar personalities. Sometimes she is more immature than me.”

With her easy smile and natural sense of timing, Eddie reckons Karen will end up being funnier than him if she decides to channel her
energy into comedy.

“After this experience I need her to do a three-minute stand-up set. If I make her support act, I will last one day and she will be the headline act!”

Right now though, Eddie is focusing on Strictly.

“I want to improve,” he says. “And the one person I want to make proud, is Karen. She’s the one who puts in effort emotionally
and mentally.”

For Movie Week, the pair danced to Men In Black from the movie of the same name. Eddie was nervous but he reveals how Karen’s secret ritual helped relax him before the dance.

“Me and Karen have a little ritual where we take two deep breaths in, then breathe out,” shares Eddie, “then she always says the same thing, ‘It’s only a dance, what’s the worst that can happen?’”

Strictly Come Dancing, Saturday, 6.30pm, and Sunday, 7.15pm, BBC One

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