Strictly's James Bye had such a lovely twinkle in his eye when he first met wife Victoria that she happily overlooked that he was chatting her up in a supermarket car park – while dressed as a giant pineapple. Victoria fell for the EastEnders star when he was a budding actor doing a promo job in the car park.
She recalls: “He was handing out sweets, and I must have really liked fruit jellies because he gave me a fruit jelly and asked me for my number and that was it. He was wearing skintight red trousers and was stood inside a giant pineapple, so I won’t say it was the man of my dreams.
“But I saw he’d got a little twinkle in his eye – and he’s such a cheeky charmer that by the time I’d finished my jelly I was a smitten kitten. Six months later we moved in together and we’ve been together 17 years now.”
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Now James, 38, is charming Strictly fans each week as he takes to the floor with pro partner Amy Dowden – and Victoria hopes they will keep him in the show so he can show off his signature move, a Michael Jackson moonwalk.
“He has always been a classic dad dancer,” she says. “You have to drag him up at weddings and he does a very shy side-shuffle before sitting back down. But at home with the boys he loves it.
“The boys love a little dance in the kitchen and we often put on Michael Jackson and he can moonwalk. James is an amazing moonwalker. So maybe if he gets voted through to next week he should break out the moonwalk. shimmying
“He can genuinely do it. He teaches my eldest the Michael Jackson moves and they both love it. They do all the high kicks in the kitchen.
“But in terms of professional dancing, this is completely new to him. He’s completely out of his comfort zone and I think he’s really been on a journey.
“This week he’s really excited because he’s doing a Marvel performance and getting to show his fun side. I think that’s really important because he is so fun. He’s such a loud, crazy dad.
“He has been practising at home. He doesn’t walk places now – he dances places. He gets up to brush his teeth and I hear him sliding around the bathroom, shimmying away. The boys are laughing saying, ‘Oh, not more dancing, Daddy!’”
With three boys – Hugo, three, Louie, six, and Edward, eight – Victoria jokes that family life with James on the show is a daily struggle, but she wouldn’t have it any other way and loves his hands-on approach to family life.
They haven’t ruled out trying for a fourth child but Victoria, 40, has endometriosis, which makes conceiving harder.
“We always wanted a big family and we thought four, and then we had three and thought, hang on, this is quite hard, but we love being a mum and a dad. So I think maybe one more if we're lucky , w h o knows? We really struggled for a long time so each pregnancy was a blessing. We suffered miscarriage and all sorts of things, so it’s been really hard. If we did get lucky enough to have another, we just want it to be healthy, especially as we’re getting on a bit now.
“I love being a soccer mom. I love the craziness they bring and they’ve all got long hair, so I get my fix of doing ponytails in the morning anyway without any of the girl drama.”
She adds: “James says there’s only room for one princess in this house – and I think that’s him.”
The couple married 10 years ago and plan to renew their vows in January. The first dance at their wedding was an unambitious shuffle to Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars. But now Victoria says: “I’m hoping Amy is going to teach him something that he can teach me so we don’t embarrass ourselves this time. I think I’ll keep the song just for nostalgia and we’re going to upgrade the shuffle.”
Victoria says Amy is like “part of the family” now. “You couldn’t ask for a better partner and the boys love her,” she adds.
“We were really hoping for Amy because she just seemed so fun and bubbly, so when we got her we were over the moon.
“Last week at the dress rehearsal, she had Hugo on her hip while she was in her full dress for the evening and was carrying him around backstage. We’re going to have Amy and her husband Ben over for dinner and we’re going to do couples nights.
“We’re going to get her around one night and cook a big spag bol, or one of James’s famous pizzas, and she can teach me a little dance move.
“I think it’s a little bit easier for me because James is an actor so I’ve seen him be ‘married’ to Lacey Turner for years. It doesn’t bother me seeing him doing a foxtrot with another woman when he’s been married and divorced several times on the show.
“I’m loving going watching and being part of the experience. James always said he wanted this to be a joint experience.
“We talked about him going on the show quite a lot. And he said, ‘I want you to be part of it. We’re a team.’ And so far I really feel like I have been part of it. It’s been lovely.”
James is “a bit accident prone” and has a hand injury sustained eight years ago soon after starting his EastEnders role as Martin Fowler.
He was cutting the stone out of an avocado and severed a artery. He also ended up in hospital after injuring his knee during a charity dance for Children in Need, and he took a tumble last week during rehearsals.
“When Strictly asked him to do it he told them, ‘ You do know what happened in Children in Need, don’t you?’” Victoria says. But he’s the sort of guy that when he falls down, he gets back up.
Victoria says: “The boys came to watch dress rehearsal last week and they were cheering and saying: ‘Awesome army roll, Daddy!’”
Some of his EastEnders castmates have also been on hand to offer support, including last year’s Strictly winner Rose Ayling Ellis.
Victoria says: “Rose did so well last year and he loves Rose to bits – they’re really good friends. Everybody’s been super-supportive and trying to help him and get through week by week.
“I’m genuinely so proud of him, I’ve been going every week and hopefully will continue to go.
“Watching him before he goes on the stage, thinking about what must be going through his head, and the bravery it takes to step out on that dance floor – I think is amazing.”
