LIKE so many of us, Shirley Ballas suffered from anxiety in lockdown – and began to eat to compensate.
After years on the dance floor as the Queen of Latin turned star judge on Strictly Come Dancing, keeping busy and trim went hand in hand.
Out of the public spotlight and unable to work, the 5ft 2in dancer put on 20lb and went from a tiny size six to a more curvaceous size ten in 12 weeks.
But speaking from her mum’s house in Liverpool, Shirley — who turns 60 in September — reveals a pre-Strictly overhaul is under way.
“I am fat. I can’t fit in my trousers but I am not going up another dress size. I have gained 20 pounds from when you last photographed me, but I am six pounds down this morning,” she says proudly.
“Mum said to me, ‘You’ve lost that five-pound bag of spuds off your ar*e — only three more bags to go’. No one wants to see my bits jiggling.”
For Shirley, it is not about vanity but rather wanting to avoid feeling “sluggish and slow”.
“You feel a bit chunky and it plays on your mind,” she explains. “I would like to think that by the time Strictly is back on air, I’ll be back at my normal weight.
“That is 120 pounds (8st 8lb). And right now I’m at 134 and two ounces (9st 8lb). I am doing it in ounces.”
She is doing it tough, too. Shirley’s regime involves a mere six hours (between midday and 6pm, if you’re interested) when she is allowed to eat.
Intermittent fasting, it’s called, and she is determined to stick to it,
“I know it’s hard but I have done it before. Mentally, once I have set my sights on it, I can do it,” she insists.
Shirley’s lockdown story is typical: A full and busy life brutally put on pause, with unexpected consequences.
“I struggled with anxiety at the beginning,” she discloses. “I didn’t know what to do with myself. I am not a Suzy Homemaker.”
While besotted with her adorable boyfriend Danny Taylor, until lockdown they had not spent a solid period of time together because his job as an actor sees him regularly travel the country performing.
“Now,” Shirley enthuses, “I REALLY know he’s the right person. Four and a half months now for 24 hours. He’s a good man.”
In fact, it was Danny who was able to help Shirley get her anxiety under control by structuring their day into two-hour blocks of exercise, housework, gardening and cooking.
“We went totally without booze and I was active throughout lockdown,” she says. “I just ate everything. My neighbour would make a coffee cake and I would eat the whole thing.
“I would sit and wait for the next meal. I would plan around the next meal. I would eat all day and night.”
While Shirley has no regrets about the past few months locking down with the man of her dreams, she is sharing her experiences today as part of a lobbying campaign to get the Government to reopen dance studios.
Last week she appeared on my talkRADIO show to make an impassioned plea to the Culture Secretary on that front — and offered Oliver Dowden a cheeky cha-cha-cha to sweeten the deal.
Later he tweeted: “Shirley — as a Strictly fan I’m happy to talk about how we can get dancing going safely again. Great offer on the cha-cha-cha — I’ll get practising.”
On Thursday at 1pm, they spoke on Zoom and she made the offer official: “I said, ‘Oliver, if I danced the cha- cha-cha with you, we would be in very close proximity, we would be breathing on each other — but I could teach you a waltz from a metre away’. He started laughing. He thought that was cute.”
Within hours of the meeting, Shirley achieved a partial victory, with new Government guidelines allowing for the restart of dance classes for some school-age children.
“Everyone is human, they are doing their best,” she says of the Government. “What I loved, Dan, was how attentive Oliver was.
“I really felt he was engaged. I felt it was a man who was listening to me and that was huge for me.”
Shirley took the chance to thank the minister for allowing Strictly to start filming later this year.
But she discloses a host of changes are planned to prepare for the BBC hit in the Covid era. “There are going to be so many new rules and regulations,” she confirms.
“We have a longer table and us judges will sit two metres apart. There will be a one-way system in the studio.
“There may not be an audience at all or they might be able to sit on round tables to allow for more social distancing.”
But Shirley is hopeful that original judge Bruno Tonioli WILL be able to travel from the US, where he has been filming Dancing With The Stars, to take his place on the panel along with Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse.
“It could be just three of us. But I am hoping to fly to the US in September to spend my 60th birthday with my son,” she says.
“If I can fly in September, then Bruno can fly in October. And I know Bruno will do everything he can to be there because he loves it. He is so dedicated to both shows.”
The other likely change is that the pro dancers may end up self-isolating in a hotel with their celeb partner. Surely that’s a recipe for even more hanky panky?
“Dan! I am not going to answer that,” Shirley shrieks. “I don’t think there will be any hanky panky but I don’t have a crystal ball.”
Shirley is now in a battle against time to get fit to be able to perform with the other judges after suffering from a hairline fracture of her ankle.
“It is still sore but I am trying to walk on it. I have been doing exercises but I am not worried about it,” she says.
“Some of my friends are genuinely struggling in lockdown, financially and without jobs, so I feel like one of the lucky ones.”
Other than her weight-loss goal, Shirley’s entire mission at the moment is to get the country dancing again for the sake of our wider physical and psychological health.
“Dance restores joy,” she enthuses. “If you take a family who live in a high-rise flat and their outlet is dancing, then they can’t do it at the moment. I worry for their mental health and about obesity.
“You can use me as an example. I decided to learn how to cook and cook I did. And I ate it all — and everyone else’s food too.
“But I’m going to be sensible, it’s not about starving. Curvy women are gorgeous. All women are gorgeous.”
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