Former winner of Great British Bake Off, John Whaite, and his dance partner Johannes Radebe have made it to the Strictly semi-finals. In an interview with Sky News, they detail being the first male same-sex couple, performing routines correctly, and their learning experience.
“I've learnt good things about myself - things that I didn't think I could do, I can do,” John revealed. “I can be an openly gay man who's sometimes a bit flamboyant and jazzy, and it's not a bad thing. People like it.” The chef, author, and tv personality claims working with dance partner, Johannes Radebe has been like “intense therapy. I feel like I've made vast improvements not only in my footwork, but also in my brain.”
The all-male pairing has topped the judges' leaderboard on three occasions, with the pair also firm favourites with viewers at home. Their same-sex pairing follows on from the first female pairing of Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams and Katya Jones - who had to pull out after Jones tested positive for COVID-19 - in 2020. Speaking during a break in rehearsals, Whaite said the response to his coupling had been one of “overwhelming support” - although Radebe acknowledged there is still “a long way to go”.
“I feel immensely proud,” Whaite said. “This is what we have been fighting for, whether it's the gay community, the deaf community, any minority who's had less in life or have suffered. We've fought for each other's rights and freedoms and to be able to do this now on a huge platform... and to have no question around it - we've had very little hate, very little flak, we've had overwhelming support and love - and to be able to do that it just shows how far we've come in terms of our attitudes to diversity generally. Not just gay diversity, but diversity at large. And it's remarkable, it's very, very humbling.”
Whaite is full of praise for the show’s move in their decision to pair same-sex dance partners. With this kind of platform and hundreds of thousands of viewers, the chef feels “all it takes is the first spark to create great flames that roar through the entire industry”.
Now, there is no going back when it comes to representation on screen, he said. “People won't let us go back. People who fight for our freedom, fight for our liberty, we're not going to take our eye off the ball, we're not going to regress to darker times where it's just straight, white people on TV. No way. This is a representation of true life, of what humanity is. And it's exciting to see that. But it's a shame that it's taken so damn long.”
Radebe said that he “never, ever thought that this moment would come” and that it is “nice for everybody to aspire to be a part of the show”. Although there seems to be a lot of “beautiful messages and support” extended to the guys, they have also heard “awful things” said about them. “It goes to show how far we've come, but also how long we still have to go,” he said.
