Dancers take pole position on BGT
The four athletic dancers from Stoke-on-Trent assisted gold-toothed rapper DJ Talent, watched by more than 14 million viewers, in the semi-final of the TV talent show.
Dressed in gold bikinis, the girls performed a range of tricks on the poles, while DJ Talent shouted out, “I say Britain, you say talent”.
Despite being championed by former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, the bling-king DJ did not make the cut for the show’s final on Saturday night.
DJ Talent’s pole dancers – instructor Faye Chatterley, who runs Pole Fit, based in Longton, her students Sasha Kavaleva and Becca Edwards, and fellow instructor Deb Riley, of Pole Queens, also based at Longton – enjoyed their big moment.
Faye, aged 31, of Fenton, said: “Through people I know in the pole industry we were asked to come along to auditions. Then we found out we would be supporting DJ Talent.
“We were so excited. We had such a wonderful day. DJ Talent was such a nice man, he was lovely. Very down to earth.
“We were told afterwards that we were watched by 14 million people. That’s amazing. We didn’t really think about the TV cameras when we were dancing, because you are performing to a TV audience. We were also on the ITV2 show, Britain’s Got More Talent”
Faye has been pole dancing since 2005, when she visited a lap dancing club.
“I watched a girl performing a spinning climb up a pole and I thought it was beautiful,” she said.
“As a dancer I could appreciate how difficult it was and the strength required to do it.
“So I got my own portable stripper poles and taught myself how to do it.”
Student Becca, aged 23, of Blurton, said: “I just heard about it as an up-and-coming thing to do. Some people still think of it as seedy, confined to smoky clubs. But no-one judges you at the classes and it is really good fun.
“When we were on Britain’s Got Talent there was a real buzz around the pole dancing community. People from all over the country were getting in touch on Facebook and wishing us good luck.”