Pete Wicks to miss Strictly training to be 'flower girl' at Vicky Pattison's wedding
What did you miss?
Pete Wicks is having to take precious time out of his Strictly Come Dancing training this week because of a clash with Vicky Pattison's wedding.
The Only Way Is Essex star had already been asked to be "flower girl" at the wedding in Italy before he signed up to the BBC One dance contest, and Pattison admitted he had been finding it "conflicting" to honour both commitments.
Pattison is getting married for the second time after hosting her first wedding at home in the UK, and will film the Italy leg of her nuptials for TV.
What, how, and why?
Strictly Come Dancing can be an all-consuming time commitment for its contestants, but one event that Pete Wicks just couldn't put off was being "flower girl" at his friend Vicky Pattison's wedding.
Wicks is in training for the all-important second week of Strictly live shows, which will see the first celebrity sent home this weekend - but he is taking time out of the training room because of a schedule clash with the wedding in Italy.
Pattison spoke to Lorraine about the wedding, saying that Wicks had found the situation "conflicting" but added that he was fully committed to giving Strictly his all.
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Speaking about the wedding — her second ceremony with husband Ercan Ramadan, who she also married in the UK — Pattison explained that it would be happening in Italy tomorrow and would be filmed for E4 show My Big Fat Geordie Wedding.
She said: "We love a progressive man over here, Lorraine, so Pete is embracing his role of flower girl. He's not arrived yet, he is working away being very diligent doing all his Strictly training so he's hopefully going to arrive tonight and I have no doubt that he's going to show us some fantastic moves as he walks down that aisle."
Acknowledging the clash, she said: "When we found out he had the gig, we'd obviously already planned him coming to the wedding so he is going to be flying in and out, it's going to be very fast. Pete, whatever he's doing takes it so seriously and throws his whole self into it, but he is a really good friend as well so this has been conflicting for him.
"He's going to be in and out, straight back in rehearsals, giving it his all. I just hope he leaves the leather trousers at home because it's warm out here."
How is Pete Wicks doing on Strictly Come Dancing?
Wicks and his dance partner Jowita Przystal have quite a bit of ground to make up in this week's training as they are currently second from bottom on the leaderboard.
Strictly's live shows began last weekend with no-one being sent home yet, but the scores will be combined with this Saturday's live show and the viewer votes to pick who will be in the first dance off.
Wicks and Przystal's Paso Doble earned them just 17 points, with only Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones behind them on 12 points as the scores currently stand.
Meanwhile, JB Gill and Amy Dowden are way ahead at the top of the leaderboard with 31 points, leaving the other couples with lots to do in rehearsals this week to keep up with them.
Last weekend, Wicks' Strictly debut included a surprising supporter as his friend Zara McDermott, the girlfriend of his best friend Sam Thompson, sat in the front row to cheer him on. McDermott took part in last year's series but her experience is part of a BBC investigation after training room footage appeared to show some concerning behaviour from her dance partner Graziano Di Prima.
Lorraine airs on ITV1 at 9am on weekdays.
This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/strictly-pete-wicks-vicky-pattison-wedding-clash-094532533.html
