Ex-Eastender looking likely Tumble winner after first elimination

Loose Women’s Andrea McClean was the first challenger to leave BBC One’s latest celebrity talent-show offering Tumble, which rated something of a shock considering TOWIE’s Lucy Mecklenburgh’s turnaround from last place to joint-fourth in a week.

Mecklenburgh scored 28.5 out of 40, the same as 7/4 series favourite John Partridge, to keep her spot in the gymnastics bonanza for another round at least.

Singer Ian ‘H’ Watkins topped the pile with 31 points ahead of actress Emma Samms, and the former Steps heartthrob will attract plenty of interest at 5/2 in the outrights after posting the best score so far.

However, former Eastenders star and Royal Ballet student Partridge appears to be merely warming up, with the 43-year-old improving on his scoreboard-leading tally from last week despite an early error.

Watkins has plenty of musical theatre experience in recent years, having taken a course in said at the Royal Academy of Music since Steps split up for the first time over a decade ago, and he’ll fare well in the fleet-footed stakes having appeared in dance-heavy shows such as FAME in the West End.

However, Partridge trumps the Welshman hands down considering the northerner left college at the age of 16 to join the cast of CATS in 1987, becoming the show’s dance captain between 1988-90.

Prior to being cast in the Beeb’s big-hitting soap, on which he also put in shifts as a choreographer, Partridge worked on the documentary ‘Aspects of Dancing’ and light entertainment dance-fest ‘The Hot Shoe Show’, so he clearly knows how to put one foot in front of the other.

Most of the contenders have some degree of dancing background, including 33/1 shot Samms, but none can quite match Partridge for pedigree.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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