Hello and welcome to White Wine Question Time, the podcast that asks its guests three thought-provoking questions over three glasses of wine.

And today we're heading back down to the cellar for another episode from the archives.

And, well, because it's December, we're spending the month in the company of some truly festive guests.

And this one, she's the star of the Strictly panel,

a show that dominates our festive schedules and, of course, our Christmas days.

She is a champion ballroom dancer,

world-renowned dance teacher and adjudicator,

and a best-selling author who sacheted her way from a Merseyside Council estate

to winning almost every major ballroom and Latin American title by the age of 21.

Now in her 60s, she's best known for her role as the head judge on the Strictly Come Dancing Panel.

So head with me back to 2020 to hear from Shirley Ballas.

Thank you. back to 2020 to hear from Shirley Ballas. Shirley Ballas, thank you so much for dialing in,

even though we are probably just five minutes from one another.

We're neighbours.

We're neighbours. That's so exciting.

I never knew that, Kate. That's great. I'm going to meet you in the park for a coffee.

Absolutely. Or even better still for wine. Let's do fine. Let's do that. I don't know. I mean, before you came along on Strictly, I hosted the first, I think, four or five years of all the Strictly Arena Tours.

And I discovered it's that the ballroom world is so small.

So I discovered that as a kid like you, I loved competing in ballroom dancing.

Oh.

And I worked out when I did the first tour that Len used to be my judge.

Wow.

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