Ramprakash bowls ’em over in dance final



WHAT is it about sportsmen and their dainty feet? Mark Ramprakash, the former England cricketer, waltzed away with the ballroom crown on BBC television’s Strictly Come Dancing last night watched by more than 10m viewers.

The bookmakers immediately placed odds of 7-4 that a sportsman would win the 2007 final of the sequins and swirls show.

Admittedly Ramprakash, 37, was up against another sportsman last night, Matt Dawson, 34, the former World Cup-winning England rugby star. But his win follows 14-stone Yorkshire bowler Darren Gough’s victory against former Olympic hurdler Colin Jackson last year.

Among names already being touted as contestants for next year’s series are Shane Warne, the retiring Australian spin bowler, and Will Carling, the former England rugby captain.

Ramprakash was the favourite to win last night. “It’s been incredible,” he said.

His good looks won over the female viewers despite revelations earlier in the series that he had been cheating on his wife. He had been nicknamed “Mr Sex in Sequins” and one of the judges, Arlene Phillips, said of him: “He’s a beautiful man with a beautiful body.”

His dance partner, Karen Hardy from Bournemouth, is a former world Latin dancing champion. Last month one of their routines had to be stopped after their microphones became entangled.

There were no such glitches last night. Together they scored a perfect 10 from the judges for their samba, earning them a standing ovation from the studio audience, and a similar tribute from the judges for their routine to Lulu’s song Shout.

More than 12m votes were cast by the public, 50% more than for last weekend’s The X Factor and more than for any party in the last general election.

Rupert Adams of the bookmaker William Hill said: “Viewers are more impressed by sports people as they have no dance training, which makes it all the more impressive that they can perform such intricate moves.”

Dawson often fared less well with the judges than Ramprakash. His attempt at the tango in an earlier programme prompted Phillips to say he had the “sex appeal of a gnat”.

The show has been a huge hit for the BBC, which has now chalked up £20m in sales from marketing it abroad. The government credits it with doing more than almost anything else in recent years to make people get active. It has trebled the number of people dancing as a hobby.

This show was MASSIVE in the UK. I`m just sorry the lovely, and very talented, Emma Bunton didn`t make it through to the final instead of Matt.