Ashley Banjo to play cupid in dancefloor dating show
Singles on the Channel 4 show will learn their routine separately before meeting for the first time on the dancefloor.
Channel 4 is hoping to bring some “old-fashioned romance” back into dating with a dance show.
Flirty Dancing (working title) will see “couples brought together through the art of dance”.
Dancer and “self-confessed romantic” Ashley Banjo will play cupid for the broadcaster, which previously sparked controversy with its show Naked Attraction, a dating show which featured contestants without clothing.
In the new series, singles will learn their routine separately “so that the first time they meet their match will be a first date like no other”.
Banjo, who won Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 with his group Diversity, said that “dance exposes your true self”.
“Back in the good old days, three-quarters of people met their partners on a dancefloor,” he said.
“I met my wife dancing. We really connected and got to know each other in dance class. There was a chemistry that I don’t think would have been created sitting across from each other at a table and just talking.
“I want to bring a bit of old-fashioned romance back to dating – the magic that can be created without a word being spoken.“
Sarah Lazenby, commissioning editor for factual entertainment at Channel 4, said the new show was a perfect antidote to today’s dating apps.
“Inspired by the evocative atmosphere of La La Land, we want to recapture the magic and romance of the dancehall days when you could be swept off your feet rather than being swept left or right,” she said.
