Hamza Yassin opens up on ‘unheard of’ weight loss from gruelling Strictly training

Strictly: Jowita says Hamza may ‘struggle’ with Salsa

Hamza Yassin, 32, has been paired with professional dancer Jowita Przystał for this year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing. The wildlife presenter has become a fan-favourite and he has been busy preparing for his week four dance which he will perform on Saturday night. Ahead of his next performance, Hamza revealed he has already lost an “unheard of” amount of weight in the past few weeks.

Hamza said he has lost about 1.2 stone since signing up for the competition which he described as “unheard of”.

“Everything just aches and aches,” he told the BBC. “With the Foxtrot, my knees ached, then it was my knees and my lower back for the Jive, and this week it’s a hard dance.”

The presenter explained how he has to try and get to the professionals’ standards in a matter of days for the live shows whereas they have been dancing for more than a decade.

He added: “We are never going to get to their standards, but we still have to learn the basics and do a show and perform and deliver it on a Saturday.

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Strictly: Hamza Yassin opened up on his dramatic weight loss with the BBC (Image: BBC)

Strictly: Hamza and Jowita will be performing a Samba this weekend (Image: BBC)

“It’s kind of crazy, but I’m absolutely enjoying it.”

Hamza admitted training does get tough at times and he often starts to get worn out come 3pm.

“Jowita’s fitness levels are out of this world, but by about three or four o’clock I’m flagging, so she has to pull out all the stops to bring my energy back up again,” he added.

Hamza is performing a Salsa to Ecuador by Sash! featuring Rodriguez this weekend.

Strictly: The star is training for nine hours a day (Image: BBC)

Strictly: This year’s Strictly Come Dancing line-up (Image: EXPRESS)

For Movie Week last week, he and Jowita danced the Rhumba to the Jurassic Park soundtrack. 

He received mixed reviews from the judges, with head judge Shirley Ballas enjoying it and Craig Revel Horwood branding the performance “dull”.

Hamza avoided the dance-off but admitted to Rylan Clark on It Takes Two he thought he was going to be in the bottom two. 

“As everyone else gets called and they’re safe and they’re safe, and it was me and Richie [Anderson],” Hamza said as he reflected on Sunday’s results show. 

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“I leaned over to Jowita, and I was like, ‘Thank you for everything’. You’ll see it.”

A supportive Jowita told Hamza: “I think for the male celebrity, Rumba is a really hard dance, especially to do it on week three,” Jowita weighed in.

“It’s crazy hard, but he took on board all of my tips. He improved his feet, which we were working on all week.”

According to the bookies, Bros singer Matt Goss leads the way at 11/8 to be sent home, while James Bye is next in the betting at 5/2.

Will Mellor and Nancy Xu have been lighting the Strictly Come Dancing dance floor alight week after week this year – but it’s safe to say preparations for their upcoming Rumba haven’t been plain sailing.

Read more HERE.

He has already been in the bottom two but avoided it last weekend and thanked fans for voting for him and his partner Nadiya Bychkova.

Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: “We’ve seen some huge shocks in the bottom two so far this series, but the odds suggest Matt Goss and James Bye are staring at a Sunday night dance-off this weekend.”

Hamza’s odds of being eliminated at the weekend are 20/1 whereas Helen Skelton, Will Mellor and Tyler Wests’ elimination odds are 100/1.

Strictly Come Dancing continues on Satuday at 6.30pm on BBC One.