THE daughter of Glasgow chef Gordon Ramsay reckons she can handle the judges on Strictly – thanks to her famous dad.

Tilly Ramsay, who is gearing up for Saturday’s launch show, laughed: “I can take criticism well – I do live with one of the harshest critics around, my dad.”

However, the young chef and CBBC presenter reckons Gordon – who was born in Johnstone and opened  Amaryllis at One Devonshire Gardens in the early noughties – will be her ‘biggest supporter’ alongside her mum, Tana.

Tilly said: “My dad is very excited, he’s always wanted to learn to dance but he’s not very good. I’ll try to teach him but I think it will take a very long time.”

She grinned: “Sorry, dad.”

Glasgow Times:

Chef, social media influencer and TV presenter Tilly has more than nine and a half million followers on TikTok, where she regularly posts funny videos of herself and her dad. She presented Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch on CBBC, for which she received three Children’s BAFTA nominations. In 2017 she published her first cookery book, inspired by the show. Tilly and Gordon also hosted a regular cooking item on This Morning, Big Chef Little Chef. 

The psychology student is one of the youngest ever contestants on Strictly Come Dancing, which returns to BBC One this Saturday (September 18).

She said: “I wanted to do it to take myself out of my comfort zone. I can’t dance very well. I’d rate my dancing a two out of 10.

“I have a hate/hate relationship with heels, I think I’ve worn them once, in my whole life. It was on my 18th birthday and they were off within five minutes, it was just too painful.

“It will be terrifying doing it live but I’ll just have to learn how to control my nerves.”

Tilly said she was looking forward to learning the waltz.

“It looks very elegant,” she says. “I’m looking forward to the costumes, but glitzy isn’t really me, so it will be a big change. I’m excited, I will embrace the sequins. I’ll just try to have fun, if I’m having fun, I won’t be nervous.”

Tilly added, with a laugh: “I’m an awkward, clumsy, un-co-ordinated person. All I can do is my best and learn from what the judges say each week. My mum loves the show. It was always a treat to stay up and watch it together. It doesn’t feel real that I’m on it.”

Glasgow Times:

Tom Fletcher, of McFly, is also looking forward to appearing on the show.

“I’m doing it for my son, Buzz, it’s his fault,” he laughed. “Buzz got so emotionally invested in Strictly, he cried when Chris Ramsey went out. So I thought, my son would love it if I did it. It’s a national treasure of a show.”

When asked if he had any dance experience, he joked: “I’m king of the dad dance.

“I mean, I went to theatre school, so I did a bit of tap, but that’s definitely nothing like ballroom or Latin and it was 20 years ago. It’s not going to come in useful at all.

“Generally, I avoid all dancing. I’m the last person up at a wedding.

“I want to do Strictly before I get too old, while I’m relatively young and able to jump around a bit.”

Four new professional dancers have been announced for the new series - former Dancing With The Stars Ireland professional Kai Widdrington, six-time Latin and ballroom national champion in Italy Nikita Kuzmin, reigning South African Latin Champion Cameron Lombard and winner of BBC One’s The Greatest Dancer 2020 Jowita Przystal.