From Strictly pro dancer to GB News presenter – the many faces of AJ Pritchard

There’s an old adage in journalism: don’t become the story. What this essentially boils down to is that, as the person reporting the news, you shouldn’t be the news; you should remain outside of it, an objective observer.

Pity poor AJ Pritchard, then, who unwittingly broke this cardinal rule in his very first stint of news presenting for GB News, making his debut on Saturday (3 October). It wasn’t long before clips of the former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer doing his best “hard news presenter” impression started going viral on social media – for all the wrong reasons. By yesterday morning, he was trending on Google.

The attention is warranted; Pritchard’s inaugural appearance undeniably makes for toe-curling viewing. While I’m not a regular watcher of GB News, that’s usually down to the content itself rather than the unbearable ineptitude of the presenting.

But Pritchard, armed with an unblinking, curiously dead-behind-the-eyes gaze and a delivery so wooden it might have been inspired by Pinocchio, had me looking away from the screen out of sheer second-hand embarrassment. It’s like the regular presenter called in sick and they decided to let the work experience student take a punt instead, just for lols.

“If you didn’t think anything AJ Pritchard did could be worse than his acting, allow me to introduce you to his segment on GB News,” wrote one social media commenter, referencing the infamous “How’s Trish?” Hollyoaks scene, source of a thousand memes, in which AJ performs opposite his real-life brother and fellow former pro dancer, Curtis – a scene so bad, it makes the soap’s other performances look veritably Oscar-worthy.

But it’s not just the quality – or lack thereof – of Pritchard’s presenting that has tongues wagging. His decision to rebrand as a right-wing media personality feels an utterly bizarre career move, one which has already sparked backlash. After all, this is a man who previously cultivated an LGBTQ+ fanbase, appearing on the cover of Attitude magazine in 2018 and working as a choreographer on the Series 1 finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2019.

“Pritchard’s decision to join GB News is extremely puzzling from a reputation standpoint,” says Paul MacKenzie-Cummins, a reputation management and personal branding consultant. “He has built a personal brand rooted in positivity and LGBTQ+ allyship, yet he’s now fronting a channel repeatedly criticised for its treatment of underrepresented groups.

“That contradiction alone justifiably invites scrutiny. It is clearly a misjudged attempt to fast‑track a presenting career without understanding the reputational cost of the platform he’s chosen.”

So how did AJ Pritchard go from primetime baby-faced dance darling to controversial right-wing pundit? And does it signal the final death knell of the ambitious 31-year-old’s career in entertainment?

Watch Apple TV free for 7 day

New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial.
Plan auto-renews until cancelled.

Try for free

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

The clues perhaps start in 2018 when Pritchard, still a professional dancer on Strictly, took part in Celebrity Masterchef. That same year, he partnered with Louis Smith for the celebrity version of Hunted. Did he enjoy more face-time in front of the camera, and the chance to show off his “personality” during these extracurricular forays? Who can say, but when Pritchard opted to leave the Strictly cast after four seasons of the show in 2020, it was in order to “follow his dreams” of pursuing a career in presenting alongside his brother.

What “presenting” translated to was competing in the usual round of other “celebrity” reality formats: I’m a Celebrity…; Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins; a channel 5 show called The Challenge UK, in which he appeared alongside fellow “celebs” predictably plucked almost exclusively from other reality shows (TOWIE, Love Island, Made in Chelsea, Geordie Shore).

Then came the clearest indicator that Pritchard had, in fact, jumped the gun a bit too early in exiting Strictly for a glittering presenting career that had failed to materialise. Earlier this year, he appeared on Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro, a reality show to find a new professional dancer for the US’s equivalent of Strictly. Pritchard went so far as to delay his own wedding to fiancée Zara Zoffany in order to compete, only to come in second, losing the coveted position to Adele Zaikman.

It was during this most recent bid for stardom that Pritchard’s future fate as a right-wing presenter may have been sealed. In an interview with The Sun, he managed to ruffle feathers by suggesting that the show should hire more “British” dancers like himself. “We’re in the UK, I’m proud to be British and there are so many fantastic boys and girls out there who would love the opportunity,” he said. “So really kind of regionally, it would support the country that we are proud to be. I would love to see that, personally.”

Former Strictly pro Oti Mabuse, whose sister Motsi is now on the judging panel, took aim at the remarks, saying Pritchard “might have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way”.

“That guy is so controversial. It’s so funny,” she said in a TikTok video this summer. “I think AJ has said a lot of things about Strictly as a brand and – I don’t even know how to word this – he might have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way with his personality. We can admit that as well.”

The South African-born dancer pointed out that many of the most popular dancers on Strictly have not been British, and that the diversity of the cast is what makes the show “so beautiful and special”.

Perhaps Pritchard hadn’t realised how badly the comments would be received – or perhaps he did, and it was all part of a grand master plan to position himself to follow the time-honoured tradition of working the right-wing media grift. Either way, it’s been an odd trajectory, according to experts.

“He was widely loved as the boy next door – clean cut, mainstream, warm talent… How did the boy next door end up there, and why?” asks Gareth Davies, CEO of The Presenter Studio, which offers presenter training and presentation coaching. “It’s a little off brand – and watching him in action it didn’t feel like a natural fit.” He adds that the move to GB News feels “rather surprising and a little confusing”.

It could be, more than a genuine passion project, a “stab in the dark at landing any sort of job as a presenter”, he argues, but “in the world of personal branding, he is in danger of blurring the lines and alienating what was a loyal following.”

Yet equally, there’s another classic adage that perhaps is guiding Pritchard’s next steps: there’s no such thing as bad press. After all, whatever people are saying right now, at least they’re talking about him.

“I’m not sure AJ has suddenly woken up as Britain’s newest right-wing firebrand; this looks much more like someone trying to escape the words ‘former Strictly dancer’. And, commercially, you can see the logic,” says Chris Wilson-Cambata, founder of Mint Gecko, a habitat for senior independent talent, specialist businesses and agencies. “GB News gives him airtime, a point of difference and, crucially, a reason for people to talk about him again.

“The backlash probably won’t hurt him nearly as much as being boring would.”