Aleksandra "Ola" Jordan (''née'' Grabowska; born 30 September 1982) is a British-Polish professional ballroom dancer and model. She appeared as a professional on the British TV show ''

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 ...

'' from 2006 to 2015. After winning a championship event in her native Poland, Jordan moved to England and began a new partnership with James Jordan. They married on 12 October 2003 and live near Maidstone in Kent. In 2018, she became a judge on ''

Dancing with the Stars: Taniec z gwiazdami ''Dancing with the Stars: Taniec z gwiazdami'' (previously: ''Taniec z gwiazdami'' ) is a Polish light entertainment reality television series broadcast by Polsat. It is the Polish version of the United Kingdom's popular '' Dancing with the Star ...

'' in Poland.

Dancing career

Jordan has been dancing since the age of twelve when her school advertised a dance club. Before dancing with James Jordan, she had danced with John Lowicki in Poland. She won Poland's Open Championships in 1999 and went on to take 12th place in the following year's World Championships. The first recorded dance by Ola Grabowska and James Jordan as a partnership was in the Dutch Open in 2000, though they did not turn professional until 2003. The couple withdrew for a while to teach Latin American dancing in Hong Kong, though they turned professional again in 2005, after missing competing. In May 2006, the couple came second in the

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

Professional Rising Stars Latin event, and in November, they came third in the British Championships for Professional Latin.

''Strictly Come Dancing''

Highest and lowest scoring performances per dance

DJ Spoony DJ Spoony (born Johnathan Joseph; 25 June 1970) is a British DJ and radio presenter. He is a member of the UK garage production trio, the Dreem Teem. Early career Dj Spoony was born in Hackney, East London to British West Indian parents. Hi ...

is the only celebrity not to appear on this list. Jordan first appeared on ''Strictly Come Dancing'' during the show's fourth series in 2006, partnering

. They were eliminated in the third round, a result which disappointed some of the audience. In series five she danced with Scottish rugby player

Kenny Logan Kenneth McKerrow Logan (born 3 April 1972) is a retired Scottish rugby union player who played wing for Stirling County RFC and Glasgow District at amateur level; Glasgow Warriors, Wasps RFC and London Scottish at professional level; and ...

while her husband James danced with Kenny's wife, TV presenter

Gabby Logan Gabrielle Nicole Logan (''née'' Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is a Welsh presenter and a former international rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted ''Final Score'' for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She has also p ...

. Kenny was voted out of the show on the ninth week while Gabby Logan was voted out earlier, in the fourth week. Jordan was knocked out of series 6 in week seven of the competition, with her partner

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

presenter Andrew Castle. In January–February 2009 Jordan danced with Kenny Logan on the Strictly Come Dancing Tour and in

series 7 Series 7 may refer to: *The seventh season of any of many shows or series; see and *Series 7 exam, officially the General Securities Representative Exam, the most comprehensive financial securities exam offered by the FINRA *'' Series 7: The Conte ...

, she partnered reporter Chris Hollins, reaching the final and beating rivals

Ricky Whittle Richard George Whittle (born 31 December 1979) is a British actor. Whittle first came to prominence as a model for Reebok in the early 2000s. He is known in the United Kingdom for his role as Calvin Valentine in the soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. I ...

and

Natalie Lowe Natalie Lowe (born 15 August 1980) is an Australian ballroom dancer. She is a four-time Australian ballroom dance champion. Lowe competed on, and won, Australia's ''Dancing with the Stars'' with celebrity partner Anthony Koutoufides''.'' She l ...

to become the 2009 champions. Their prize was a ''Strictly Come Dancing'' glitter ball. Jordan and Hollins became affectionately known as "Team Cola" by viewers and on the show, with Cola being a portmanteau of "Chris" and "Ola". Jordan partnered magician

Paul Daniels Newton Edward Daniels (6 April 1938 – 17 March 2016), known professionally as Paul Daniels, was an English magician and television presenter. He achieved international fame through his television series '' The Paul Daniels Magic Show'', whic ...

in the eighth season of the show; they were the second couple to be voted off. For

Children in Need 2010 Children in Need 2010 was a campaign held in the United Kingdom to raise money for Children in Need. 2010 marked the 30th anniversary of the appeal which culminated in a live broadcast on BBC One and ITV1 which began on the evening of Friday 19 N ...

, Jordan partnered

Harry Judd Harry Mark Christopher Judd (born 23 December 1985) is an English musician, dancer and author. He is the drummer for the band McFly. Judd won the 2011 series of ''Strictly Come Dancing''. Judd published his first book, ''Get Fit Get Happy'', in ...

from the band

McFly McFly are an English pop rock band formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the '' Back to the Future'' character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Danny Jones (lead vocals, har ...

for a one-off ''Strictly'' special, dancing a

Paso Doble Pasodoble (Spanish language, Spanish: ''double step'') is a fast-paced Spanish military march used by infantry troops. Its speed allowed troops to give 120 steps per minute (double the average of a regular unit, hence its name). This military ...

. The couple won, beating

Rochelle Wiseman Rochelle Eulah Eileen Humes (née Wiseman; born 21 March 1989) is an English singer and television presenter. Humes began her career in British pop groups S Club Juniors and The Saturdays, and has gone on to co-present the ITV entertainment ser ...

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 ...

and her partner

Ian Waite Ian Waite (born 29 January 1971) is a British professional dancer specialising in Latin American dance, a teacher and choreographer. Biography Waite was born in Reading, Berkshire. He started dancing at the age of 10. Mary Richardson, a former ...

. In the ninth series of the show she was partnered with former Wales international footballer

Robbie Savage Robert William Savage (born 18 October 1974) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder, now a association football, football pundit and director of football at club Macclesfield F.C., Macclesfie ...

. They were the ninth couple voted out on 4 December 2011. In September 2012, during the show's tenth series, Jordan was partnered with ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' actor

Sid Owen Sid Owen (born David Sutton; 12 January 1972) is an English actor, television presenter and former singer, who played Ricky Butcher in the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' on and off since 1988. He also appeared in the tenth series of ''Strict ...

. The couple were eliminated on Halloween week in October 2012. For the eleventh series in September 2013, Jordan competed with former ''

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 ...

'' actor and singer

Ashley Taylor Dawson Philip Ashley Taylor Dawson (born 11 January 1982), known as Ashley Taylor Dawson, is an English actor and singer. He is known for portraying the role of Darren Osborne in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', as well as being a member of th ...

. They got as far as the 11th week before being voted out. In September 2014, for the show's twelfth series, Jordan was partnered with wildlife expert, presenter of the popular children's show ''

Deadly 60 ''Deadly...'' is a strand of British wildlife documentary programming aimed principally at children and young people, which is broadcast on CBBC on BBC One and Two and on the CBBC Channel. It is presented by Steve Backshall, with Naomi Wilkinson ...

'' and its spinoffs,

Steve Backshall Stephen James Backshall (born 21 April 1973) is an English naturalist, explorer, presenter and writer, best known for BBC TV's ''Deadly 60''. His other BBC work includes being part of the expedition teams in ''Lost Land of the Tiger'', ''Lo ...

. They were eliminated in week 9 (22/23 November 2014). On 7 October 2014, Jordan and Backshall appeared on BBC Radio 1's ''Innuendo Bingo''. On 5 September 2015, ''Strictly Come Dancing'' revealed Jordan would dance with sports commentator and Olympic medalist

Iwan Thomas Iwan Gwyn Thomas (born 5 January 1974) is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European, Commonwealth Games and Wo ...

for the upcoming thirteenth series. They were the first couple to leave the competition on 4 October 2015. Shortly after their elimination Jordan announced this was to be her last series of ''Strictly Come Dancing'' as she would not be returning in the following series. She made her last appearance when she was featured in a group dance for the Series 13 Final.

DJ Spoony

Kenny Logan

Andrew Castle

Chris Hollins

Darcey Bussell Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle; 27 April 1969) is an English retired ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest ''Strictly Come Dancing''. Trained at the Arts Educational Sc ...

joined the judging panel for the last 3 weeks of the show.

Paul Daniels

Robbie Savage

Sid Owen

Ashley Taylor Dawson

Steve Backshall

Donny Osmond Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, dancer, actor, television host, and former teen idol. He first gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and gol ...

joined the judging panel for Movie Week in Week 3.

Iwan Thomas

Other television appearances

Ola and James Jordan took part in a celebrity version of television programme ''

Total Wipeout ''Total Wipeout'' is a British game show, hosted by Richard Hammond and Amanda Byram, which first aired on the BBC on 3 January 2009. In each episode, contestants competed in a series of challenges in an attempt to win £10,000. These challen ...

'' which was broadcast on 26 December 2009. She and ''

'' head judge

Len Goodman Leonard Gordon Goodman (born 25 April 1944) is an English professional ballroom dancer, dance judge, and coach. He has appeared as head judge on the television dance programmes ''Strictly Come Dancing'', a programme where various celebrities c ...

appeared as a team in the BBC programme ''

Bargain Hunt ''Bargain Hunt'' is a British television programme in which two pairs of contestants are challenged to buy antiques from shops or a fair and then sell them in an auction for a profit. It has aired on BBC One since 13 March 2000 in a daytim ...

'' in 2010 for the benefit of the Children in Need appeal. Ola and James Jordan also took part in the judging panel on the television show '' Dancing on Wheels'' in 2010, and the couple also appeared on ''

All Star Mr & Mrs ''All Star Mr & Mrs'' is a British television show which first began airing on 12 April 2008 on ITV. It is a celebrity revival of the original '' Mr and Mrs'' that aired on ITV from 1968 to 1988 with two separate revivals in 1995–1996 and 1 ...

'' in 2013, where they won the show. Ola and James appeared on an episode of ''

Through the Keyhole ''Through the Keyhole'' is a British comedy panel game show created by the TV producer Kevin Sim and originally presented by Sir David Frost in the studio and Loyd Grossman on location. The location presenter goes around celebrities' houses and ...

'' in September 2015, as celebrity homeowners. In December 2014, Jordan was announced as one of the celebrity competitors for 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 ...

series '' The Jump'', a television show which requires celebrities to compete in events such as skeleton, ski jumping, bobsled, slalom, and ski cross. While practicing for the series, Jordan fell during a training run. The resulting injury forced Jordan to withdraw from ''The Jump'' and prevented her from participating in the Series 12 finale of ''Strictly Come Dancing''. The fall caused Jordan to suffer a torn ligament in her knee, an injury which required Jordan to undergo surgery. In November 2016, she took part in the sixteenth series of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!''. She was the third celebrity to leave the show. In February 2018, Polish broadcaster

Polsat Polsat is a Polish free-to-air television channel that was launched on 5 December 1992 by Zygmunt Solorz-Żak. , it is the most watched television channel in Poland with a market share of 11.30% Polsat belongs to Grupa Polsat Plus ( WSECPS, wh ...

announced that Jordan would replace Beata Tyszkiewicz as a judge on ''

'' (Polish version of ''Strictly Come Dancing''). In 2019, she appeared on the fourth series of ''

Celebrity Coach Trip ''Coach Trip'' is a British reality game show originally broadcast on Channel 4 from 7 March 2005 to 30 June 2006. The programme returned after a three-year break, from 25 May 2009 to 9 March 2012. In early 2013, the show went into hiatus agai ...

'' alongside husband James.

References

External links

James and Ola Jordan
– Official website *
Strictly Come Dancing series four
BBC Press Office, 29 September 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Ola 1982 births Living people People from Nasielsk Polish ballroom dancers Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom Polish expatriates in the United Kingdom Strictly Come Dancing winners Polish female dancers I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series) participants