Strictly stars ready to shine at the Odyssey

This year's tour will feature Strictly Come Dancing 2009 winner Chris Hollins, along with former Hollyoaks actress Ali Bastian, model and actress Kelly Brook, former Eastenders stars Natalie Cassidy and Ricky Groves, ex-England rugby player Austin Healey, actress Zoe Lucker and cricketer Mark Ramprakash, who took time out from rehearsals this week to chat to the Star about the upcoming visit to Belfast.

"When I was in the show it was an incredible experience," said Mark. "At the end I went back to my day job and back to reality but being asked to do the tour was really nice and it has been great to come back into it."

Mark is renowned for his performance of the Argentine Tango with professional partner Karen Hardy, who has now retired from the show. "I was really lucky to be paired with Karen," continued Mark. "I has such a great time with her and she knew me very well. She was very clever at knowing what to day and how to help me as a beginner."

For the tour Mark has been paired with Kristina Rihanoff and he admits it is strange having a different partner. "It is strange to start with dancing with someone else but Kristina is a fantastic dancer and now that we are half way through the tour we are feeling very comfortable dancing with each other. We are having a lot of fun."

The Strictly Come Dancing tour is all about entertainment but there is an element of competition thrown in with the audience deciding the winner each night. Even though Mark claims he just wants to try his best each night, he admits he would like a win and is hoping the people of Belfast will help him when the show comes to the Odyssey. "Austin has been dancing extremely well and has been winning most of the shows," reveals Mark.

"It would be nice to get a win in Belfast because I certainly never won when I played cricket there!" he joked. "When I was on the show I had quite a lot of letters of support from people in Northern Ireland so I am really looking forward to coming over."

The celebrities will be joined in Belfast by their world-class professional partners. Darren Bennett, Matthew Cutler, Brian Fortuna, James Jordan, Ola Jordan, Lilia Kopylova, Natalie Lowe, Kristina Rihanoff, Aliona Vilani and Ian Waite will all be performing intricate dance moves to fantastic live music.

The arena tour also features the original line-up of judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tolioni, Arlene Philips and Craig Revel-Horwood to pass on their comments and scores for the couples, but it is the audience who has the final say each night.

Tickets for the Belfast show are on sale from the Odyssey Arena Box Office on 9073 9074.