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Strictly champ goes back to work
Monday 21 December 2009
The 38-year-old sports reporter said: "I checked with the professional dancers - could I make it? And the answer was no. So I'm back."
Check out our Strictly Come Dancing Blog.
Over 11 million people tuned in to watch him defeat Hollyoaks actor Ricky Whittle on Saturday night. Whittle wowed the judges with his natural ability and impressive lifts but he failed to win over the public, who backed the underdog.
Hollins, partnered by Ola Jordan, was not a favourite to reach Saturday night's final but in recent weeks his popularity with the public became obvious and he was the only celebrity to avoid a dance-off during the series.
The BBC Breakfast reporter said he could not believe he had won but thought people appreciated how hard he had worked. "It was an enormous shock," he said. "I am still in shock."
"It has been a weird adventure," he said. "The highlight has got to be doing the Charleston (in the final). That was our favourite dance. It just felt right and we got five 10s from the judges."
He praised runner-up Whittle, who he described as a "top-notch guy", and said he would miss Ola.
Hollins joked he was looking forward to indulging himself over Christmas after a gruelling training regime for the past four months. "I have lost over a stone and I've gone from a 35in waist to a 32," he said. "None of my clothes fit. I think I'm just going to get fat over Christmas."
Runner-up Whittle admitted he and dance partner Natalie Lowe did not expect to win, but were happy to have achieved consistently high scores and positive comments from the judges. "We kind of knew how it was going to go and the fact we were in the final was a massive achievement," he said.
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