DAN Walker has told how his Strictly partner’s love of dancing has rubbed off on him as he expressed his “surprise” that he is still in the competition.

The BBC Breakfast presenter from Crawley and his professional partner Nadiya Bychkova performed a jive to Rock Lobster by The B-52s on Saturday evening’s show.

In a video posted to Twitter, he said: “Hello, here we are, another Saturday, another week of Strictly.

“I hope you’re having a fantastic weekend so far.

“It’s week six would you believe and we’re still knocking about, which is a huge surprise, but very enjoyable.

“It’s very strange because the judges keep telling me I need to believe in myself and to let go, and I am trying, and if you watch tonight, I think you’ll probably see a bit of that.”

The TV presenter also spoke of the influence his dance partner has had on him, saying: “The other thing which I found very surprising is when you spend time with somebody who loves something so much, and Nadiya loves dancing, it’s just a huge part of who she is, it really does rub off on you and I didn’t expect to feel like that.

“I’ve gone from thinking ‘I’m glad that’s over’ to thinking ‘I can’t wait to dance again’.

“And the support we’ve got from so many people is ludicrous and really inspiring.”

He added: “Sally’s coming tonight, my new professional partner, which is going to be great.

“I hope she and you enjoy it, and if you can vote, do, that would be brilliant, thank you.”

In a follow-up tweet, the 44-year-old said that he knows he is “the favourite to go home” but revealed he was “not worried about that”.

He added: “My family are loving it, my friends can’t believe it and the support is incredible.

“Also… I’m learning something amazing, from someone amazing… I intend to enjoy every minute of it.”

On Saturday, the pair’s performance earned them a score of 27 and Dan celebrated being given his first eight of the series.

He briefly ran out of the camera shot, then shouted: “We got an 8.”

He said: “Performing in front of this wonderful crowd with all those brilliant fellow competitors, it’s just so much fun every Saturday night.”

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