He got two standing ovations. He got maximum marks from the judges for one dance. Twelve million Britons voted in the final of Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday December 23, and at the end, cricketer Mark Ramprakash romped home as the 2006 champion of the BBC hit series.
Mark, who played his Test Cricket for England rather than the West Indies, is the son of a Guyanese immigrant to England and a British mother.
His father, Deo, originally from Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara, was in the studio audience as were Mark’s wife, Van and two young daughters. Mark did them proud.
After an unsteady start on the Viennese waltz, Mark and his professional partner Karen Hardy went from strength to strength culminating in two standing ovations and a perfect 40 score. In total they danced five times; they shone in four with compliments and praise flowing from the judges’ table. One judge said it had been “an exceptional 12 weeks of dancing.” Others agreed.
Mark impressed viewers over the three months of the series, not just with his sultry good looks and cut to the waist dancing costumes, but also with his sheer grit and determination to win.
His specialty proved to be Latin. In the final his Caribbean origin came out as he and his partner danced to the well-known calypso “Hot Hot Hot”. It was a sight to behold and wowed the judges.
His ability to learn from his partner helped him to win as well as his appeal to women. Over the last three months, Mark became a sexual icon to millions of British women. Not many of them are aware of his Guyanese background.
The ‘Strictly’ final was down to two celebrities: Mark and Matt Dawson a former English Rugby Union International player, who was equally determined to win, and probably a better technical dancer than Mark. He worked at it nearly as hard but did not have the wellspring of public support which Mark enjoyed. Mark had captured the British public’s imagination early and that link proved impossible to decouple.
At the trophy presentation by veteran Light entertainment presenter Bruce Forsyth who hosted the show with aplomb at age 78, Mark said that taking part in ‘Strictly’ had been “the experience of a lifetime”. He paid tribute to his partner for all that she had taught him.
2006 has proved to be an annus mirabilis for Mark. He was elected Professional Cricketer of the Year by his fellow county cricketers, then came ‘Strictly’. The bid to win had looked as though it might be derailed by tabloid tales of marital indiscretion a few weeks ago. But that was all put behind him triumphantly live on television when the boy whose with genes from West Coast Demerara proved supreme in what Forsyth described as “the best series ever of Strictly Come Dancing”.
Post cricket, it seems a new career beckons for Mark.
