Alex Joseph Pritchard (born 5 November 1994) is a British dancer and choreographer. In 2013, he auditioned for the seventh series of ''

Britain's Got Talent ''Britain's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated to ''BGT'') is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially ...

'' along with professional partner Chloe Hewitt, where they reached the semi-finals. From 2016 to 2019, Pritchard appeared as a professional dancer on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

dance series ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

''. In 2020, he participated in the twentieth series of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!''

Early life

Pritchard was born on 5 November 1994 in

Sneyd Green Sneyd Green is an area in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in the north-east of the city, from Hanley. Sneyd Green borders Smallthorne in the north, Milton in the east, Birches Head in the south, and Cobridge in the west. ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

. He began dancing at the age of 12, and his parents partnered him with Chloe Hewitt from their dance school. He has a younger brother,

Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' ( Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and Ga ...

, a fellow dance professional, who appears on ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'' in Ireland.

Career

In 2013, Pritchard and his professional dance partner Hewitt auditioned for ''

''; the pair eventually reached the live semi-finals. In September 2018, Pritchard took part in BBC's ''

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 20 ...

'' leaving the show after his

apple crumble An apple crumble is a British dessert featuring baked apple with a crunchy topping. In the UK, the term 'crumble' refers to both a dessert similar to the American apple crisp, which is topped with rolled oats and brown sugar, or a dessert topp ...

infuriated the judges. In October 2018, he partnered with Louis Smith in the celebrity version of '' Hunted'', in aid of

Stand Up to Cancer Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) is a charitable program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). SU2C aims to raise significant funds for translational cancer research through online and televised efforts. Central to the program is a telethon tha ...

. In July 2019, it was announced that Pritchard, along with his brother Curtis, would appear as guest choreographers on the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

reality series ''

RuPaul's Drag Race UK ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' is a British reality competition television series based on the American television series of the same name. The television series, a collaboration between the BBC and World of Wonder, premiered on 3 October 2019. T ...

''. In November 2020, it was announced that Pritchard would be contestant on the twentieth series of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here''. He became the seventh celebrity to be eliminated alongside

Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a British long-distance runner. His ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) make him the most successful male track distance runner ever ...

on 2 December. In February 2021, it was announced that Pritchard would be making his acting debut in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

'', alongside his brother. He portrayed the role of

Marco Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

; their acting abilities were the subject of widespread criticism. Pritchard was one of four finalists who completed series 4 of '' Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins''. In 2023, Pritchard competed on the reality-competition series ''

The Challenge UK ''The Challenge UK'' is the British adaptation of the American reality competition series '' The Challenge''. The series is a reality competition show, which premiered on 20 February 2023 on Channel 5 and is presented by Mark Wright. Backgro ...

''.

''Strictly Come Dancing''

In 2016, Pritchard appeared as a professional in the BBC dance show, ''

'' for its fourteenth series. He was partnered with Olympic artistic gymnast

Claudia Fragapane Claudia Fragapane (born 24 October 1997) is a British artistic gymnast. She came to prominence at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she was the first English woman to win four gold medals in a single Games since 1930. In 2015, Fragapane was pa ...

. 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. Pritchard returned to ''Strictly'' the following year for his second series, and was partnered with

Mollie King Mollie Elizabeth King (born 4 June 1987) is an English pop singer, radio presenter and a member of girl group The Saturdays. As part of the Saturdays, King has had 13 Top 10 and eight Top 5 singles, including the UK number-one hit "What About U ...

, a singer and former member of girl group

The Saturdays The Saturdays were a British-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and have been on hiatus since 2014. The lineup consists of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vanessa Wh ...

. 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. They were eliminated at the semi-final stage, finishing in 5th place, in Pritchard's third consecutive semi-final elimination. In March 2019, Pritchard was confirmed to be returning to ''Strictly'' for his fourth series. In September 2019. it was revealed that he would partner vlogger Saffron Barker. They were eliminated on week 10, making this the first and only series where Pritchard failed to reach the semi-final. Despite being confirmed in the 2020 professional line-up, on 26 March 2020, Pritchard announced that he was leaving the show in order to pursue a career in presenting. Highest and Lowest Scoring Per Dance

Claudia Fragapane

He partnered Olympic artistic gymnast

for the fourteenth season of ''Strictly Come Dancing''.

Mollie King

For the fifteenth season of ''Strictly Come Dancing'' he partnered English singer-songwriter, presenter and model

Lauren Steadman

He partnered British Paralympic athlete Lauren Steadman for the sixteenth season of ''Strictly Come Dancing''. *Score was awarded by guest judge

Alfonso Ribeiro Alfonso Lincoln Ribeiro (born September 21, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and television host. He is best known for his roles as Alfonso Spears on the sitcom ''Silver Spoons'', Carlton Banks on the NBC sitcom ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ...

Saffron Barker

He partnered television presenter

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

personality and author Saffron Barker for the seventeenth season of ''Strictly Come Dancing''. They were eliminated in week 10, coming sixth. *Score was awarded by guest judge

Personal life

Pritchard has OCD and

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

and is colour blind. On 27 December 2018, Pritchard and his brother Curtis, along with two others, were attacked in an "unprovoked assault" on a night out in

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

. Pritchard suffered bruising to his face, arms, legs and body. In 2018 Pritchard was featured in a photo-shoot in the October issue of gay magazine ''

Attitude Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value * Metaphysics of presence * Propositional attitude, a relational mental state connecting a person to a pro ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard, AJ 1994 births Living people British ballroom dancers People from Sneyd Green Britain's Got Talent contestants I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series) participants The Challenge (TV series) contestants