Whizzing around the dance floor, grinning like the cat that got the cream with her hunky dance partner Robin Windsor, Lisa Riley has been the undisputed star of Strictly Come Dancing.
"Curves make women sexy and Strictly has made me feel like a right minx!"
Beaming Lisa tells Closer the show has “changed her life” and made her more confident than ever. And she reveals the gruelling dance training has transformed her figure – she’s lost a whopping 2st and dropped from a size 26 to a 20.
“I love flashing my legs now!” grins Lisa, 36, as she tries on a tight red dress for our shoot. “Dancing with Robin is like being on a constant treadmill, but I won’t go crazy and get obsessive about my weight. Curves make women sexy and Strictly has made me feel like a right minx!
“I’ve been wearing a double Spanx leotard for the show – which forces my boobs up around my armpits – but I loved that the dresses kept getting skimpier. I’m not ready to wear Kylie Minogue-style hot pants just yet, though!”
And Lisa, who’s also lost 4½ inches from her waist, says she hopes her feisty appearance on Strictly will inspire other plus-size ladies to feel more confident. She says: “I got a Tweet from one woman, saying: ‘Lisa, you’ve made my husband fall in love with me all over again’ and I burst out crying.
“The average woman in the UK is a size 16 and they should never feel pressurised to change. I’ll never have liposuction or go on a radical diet to get down to a size 8. My weight loss wasn’t planned and, even if I was to put on 9st after the show, I wouldn’t care because it’s about the person inside, not your shape.”
As a massive fan of Dawn French, Lisa says she was flattered when the comedian contacted the Strictly wardrobe department to ask if she could buy Lisa’s outfits for her fancy dress collection. Manchester-based Lisa says: “I love Dawn. She’s a fantastic role model because she’s no waif but she looks absolutely beautiful and is super-talented.
She should definitely sign up for Strictly!”
And after meeting him for the first time in September, Lisa says she’s found a “friend for life” in openly gay Robin, who admits he never imagined the former Emmerdale actress would be able to cope with the energetic routines. But Lisa has – and even lifted him during one of their routines!
Vegetarian Lisa, who says she eats whatever she wants and loves Aero bars and Haribo sweets, laughs: “Robin took one look at me and thought I’d be like a sack of potatoes, but I proved him wrong! Now we finish each others’ sentences and talk in smutty innuendo! His professional dance partner Kristina Rihanoff always says: ‘I don’t know how you two make it to Saturday night!’ because we’re in constant fits of giggles.
“I’ve nicknamed him ‘King Spray Tan’ and he calls me ‘Captain Spray Tan’ because we’re both obsessed with the Strictly fake tan. I’d never had one before the show, but now I’m addicted.”
Robin, 33, recently said Lisa was a “gay man trapped in a woman’s body” because she’s so camp and loves musical theatre.
But although single Lisa – whose past romances include a fling with married actor Nick Holly and a relationship with a care home manager – loves the comparison, she says her love of gay men could be holding her back from finding a boyfriend.
She says: “I love going to Chanel to buy handbags with my gay friends, then spending the evening with them at a musical. I’m so camp, I’m even planning to dress up my baby nephew, Jake, in a tutu when he’s a bit older and teach him the Billy Elliot dances!
“Now I’m so used to the frivolous gay sense of humour, it’s hard to go out with a straight man who watches rugby and is all serious.
“It’s easy to go to a christening and pull a mate’s cousin, but I’m crap at the dating side of things because I’m always so busy. But I’m vowing to find Mr Right in 2013.”
"I’m crap at the dating side of things because I’m always so busy. But I’m vowing to find Mr Right in 2013.”
And Lisa jokes she’s got her eye on One Direction’s Zayn Malik, 19, who’s dating Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards. Lisa – who says she’d love to appear in period drama Cranford as she’s a big fan – reveals: “Everyone’s banging on about Harry Styles, but I prefer Zayn. He’s the fittest member of One Direction.”
Now Lisa says she’s looking forward to a big family Christmas in Portsmouth, where she’ll be playing the Evil Queen in the Snow White panto. She says: “All my family are coming to my hotel to have a massive slap-up meal. I love spoiling my nephew Jake and having my six godchildren around – it’s all about the kids. I’d love to have my own but, right now, I still feel like I have so much to achieve. I still think I’m 19!”