He’s a favourite to bag the Glitter Ball in the imminent final, but fancy footwork was originally meant to shine on the pitch – not the dancefloor.
The JLS star was gearing up for another career before he became a popstar until a horrific injury destroyed that dream. JB may be famous for being a singer from the multimillion album-selling group JLS.
Yet, few fans know that he was on track to be a sports star. His mum, Cynthia Gill, previously told Express.co.uk: “Rugby was the main sport in winter [in his secondary school] and he took to that like a duck to water,” she recalled.
He then joined pro rugby club London Irish and “was on a trajectory to playing professionally”. She added of JB, who had spent the first five years of his life in Antigua before moving to the UK: “The rugby team actually went on tour to different countries.”
It was during one of the away games in Europe that her son was tackled by another player and suffered horrifying damage to his ankle. “It was an injury that practically affected his mobility,” she said.
JB has made the Strictly semi final. (Image: BBC)
“I think the way that sport is now, an injury like that wouldn’t necessarily stop you, but at the time, it did sort of slow him down, and he was never quite the same [afterwards].
“I don’t know if he didn’t trust his ankle as much [but] although he continued to play for school, he felt like going into professional rugby wasn’t going to be the avenue for him any longer,” the 64-year-old explained.
“He was laid up for a while, he was well-bandaged and using something to help him walk for a period of time. It was quite a bad injury, so I think it made him sit down and rethink ‘What is it that I want to do and what else can I do?'”
That was when Cynthia encouraged him to focus on a different path. “We sat down one day and were talking and he said he wanted to sing, so could he take singing lessons?” she recalled.
His singing tutor was approached at an X Factor auditions show by someone looking for candidates to join a boy band – and she immediately thought of JB.
Don’t miss… [UPDATE]
JB has gone on to sell millions of albums with JLS (Image: Getty)
When he went along, he was introduced to three others – Marvin Humes, Oritse Williams and Aston Merrygold – and finally the JLS lineup was complete.
“At this point he wasn’t going to do sport anymore – in the back of his head, what he really enjoys doing is his music. [There was] disappointment at not being a rugby player, which is what he thought originally he was going to do, but [he could] switch to something else that he enjoyed equally,” she confirmed.
That all famously led to a glittering career, during which he sold over 10 million records with JLS. JB is now a fan favourite on Strictly, but had to overcome yet another obstacle. , had to leave the show due to injury.
After Amy’s departure, Lauren Oakley – who previously supported Giovanni Pernice and Anton du Beke on tour this year – stepped in to replace her.
The partnership has proved to be a winning combination, as they have since sailed straight to the top of the leaderboard. He is now one of the last remaining celebrities on the iconic dance competition as it gears up for the semi-final this week.
However, as the show approaches the final, the singer faces competition from his fellow Strictly hopefuls , who is the bookies’ favourite to be crowned the winner, and The Only Way is Essex star , who often lands in the dance off but always manages to triumph.