AJ Pritchard
| AJ Pritchard | |
|---|---|
| Born |
5 November 1994 Stoke-on-Trent, England, United Kingdom |
| Known for | Strictly Come Dancing |
| Website |
ajchloe |
Alex Joseph "AJ" Pritchard (born 5 November 1994)[1] is a British dancer and choreographer, best known for his role as a professional dancer on the BBC One dance series Strictly Come Dancing .[2] In 2013 Pritchard auditioned for the seventh series of Britain's Got Talent along with his partner Chloe Hewitt and reached the semi-finals.
Early life
Pritchard was born in Sneyd Green, Stoke-on-Trent.[3] He began dancing at the age of 12, and his parents partnered him with Chloe Hewitt from their dance school. Together, they have represented Britain in dance competitions around the world, and won the National Youth Latin Championships for three consecutive years between 2012 and 2014. In 2015, AJ & Chloe also became the British Open Youth Latin Champions and the European Youth Latin Champions.[4]
Britain's Got Talent and other television
In 2013, Pritchard and his professional dance partner Chloe Hewitt auditioned for Britain's Got Talent, receiving acclaim from the judges and audience. The pair eventually reached the live semi-finals.
AJ has a younger brother, Curtis, a fellow professional, who appeared in the 2017 series of Dancing with the Stars in Ireland and toured with Natalie Lowe, Louis Smith and Jay McGuiness in the stage show Rip It Up.[5]
In September 2018 Pritchard took part in BBC's Celebrity MasterChef[6] leaving the show after his apple crumble infuriated the judges.[7]
Strictly Come Dancing
In 2016 Pritchard appeared as a professional in the BBC dance show, Strictly Come Dancing for its fourteenth series.[8] He was partnered with Olympic artistic gymnast Claudia Fragapane. They were eliminated in the semi-finals on 11 December 2016, finishing in 4th place overall. In his first series, Pritchard received praise for his innovative choreography.[9]
Pritchard returned to Strictly the following year for his second series, and was partnered with Mollie King, a singer and former member of girl group The Saturdays. The pair made it to week 12, being knocked out at the semi-final stage and finishing in 5th place overall.
In his third series, in 2018, he was partnered with British Paralympic athlete Lauren Steadman.
| Series | Partner | Place |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Claudia Fragapane | 4th |
| 15 | Mollie King | 5th |
| 16 | Lauren Steadman |
Claudia Fragapane
| Week № | Dance / Song | Judges' scores | Result | Score | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revel Horwood | Bussell | Goodman | Tonioli | ||||
| 1 | Cha-Cha-Cha / "What Makes You Beautiful" | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | No Elimination | 26 |
| 2 | Waltz / "You Light Up My Life" | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Safe | 30 |
| 3 | Charleston / "You Give a Little Love" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | Safe | 36 |
| 4 | Foxtrot / "I Really Like You" | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Safe | 30 |
| 5 | Samba/ "Young Hearts Run Free" | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Safe | 32 |
| 6 | American Smooth / "Black Magic" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | Safe | 36 |
| 7 | Paso Doble / "Shut Up and Dance" | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | Safe | 33 |
| 8 | Viennese Waltz / "Breakaway" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | Safe | 36 |
| 9 | Jive / "Mickey" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | Bottom two | 36 |
| 10 | Argentine Tango / "Cry Me a River" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | Safe | 36 |
| Cha-cha-cha Challenge /" I Like It Like That" | Awarded 3 extra points | 39 | |||||
| 11 | Salsa / "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | Safe | 37 |
| 12 | Rumba / "Bleeding Love" | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 4th place | 35 |
| Quickstep /" When You're Smiling" | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 38 | ||
Mollie King
| Week № | Dance / Song | Judges' scores | Result | Score | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revel Horwood | Bussell | Ballas | Tonioli | ||||
| 1 | Jive / "Good Golly, Miss Molly" | 4 | 6 | 7 | 6 | No Elimination | 23 |
| 2 | Tango / "Addicted to Love" | 4 | 6 | 8 | 7 | Safe | 25 |
| 3 | American Smooth / "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | Safe | 30 |
| 4 | Salsa / "Súbeme la Radio" | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Safe | 27 |
| 5 | Viennese Waltz / "Anyone Who Had a Heart" | 8 | 8 | 8 | – | Safe | 24 |
| 6 | Cha-Cha-Cha / "Better the Devil You Know" | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Bottom two | 27 |
| 7 | Foxtrot / "Call Me Irresponsible" | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Bottom two | 27 |
| 8 | Paso Doble / "Layla" | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | Safe | 22 |
| 9 | Charleston / "Wings" | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | Safe | 29 |
| 10 | Quickstep / "Umbrella" | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Safe | 31 |
| Paso Doble-thon | Awarded 2 extra points | 33 | |||||
| 11 | Rumba / "Hopelessly Devoted to You" | 6 | 7 | 9 | 9 | Safe | 31 |
| 12 | Samba / "Whenever, Wherever" | 4 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5th place | 24 |
| Waltz / "Angel" | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 32 | ||
Lauren Steadman
| Week № | Dance / Song | Judges' scores | Result | Score | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revel Horwood | Bussell | Ballas | Tonioli | ||||
| 1 | Waltz / "Kissing You" | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | No Elimination | 25 |
| 2 | Charleston / "New Rules" | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | Safe | 22 |
| 3 | Cha-Cha-Cha / "Fame" | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | Safe | 20 |
Charity work
In October 2017 Pritchard was a presenter at the Specsavers Awards in aid of Kidscape, a charity which works to prevent bullying.[10]
References
- ↑ "AJ.Chloe European, British Open, National & United Kingdom Champions". ajchloe.com. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ↑ "Three more new pro-dancers for 2016". Strictly Come Dancing. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
- ↑ "North Staffordshire dancer's Strictly partner announced". Stoke Sentinel. 3 September 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
- ↑ Little John, Georgina (10 December 2016). "Who is AJ Pritchard? Meet the Strictly Come Dancing 2016 professional". The Sun. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ↑ "Curtis & Emily – Pritchards' Dance and Fitness". dancepdf.co.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ↑ "Meet the five famous faces on tonight's Celebrity MasterChef".
- ↑
- ↑ "Strictly Come Dancing 2016: show announces new young professionals...and they've previously been on Britain's Got Talent". The Telegraph. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
- ↑ Patterson, Michael (21 December 2016). "Why Claudia & AJ Are The Real Winners of BBC's 'Strictly Come Dancing' 2016". moviepilot.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ↑ TweetIz. "Twitter Tweets Search results for LoveGlasses • TweetIz". TweetIz. Retrieved 23 October 2017.