Kristina Rihanoff and Christopher Maloney team up in Worthing

Good friends Kristina Rihanoff and Christopher Maloney deliver a new musical spectacular on a tour which brings them to the Pavilion Theatre, Worthing on January 26.
Rihanoff & MaloneyRihanoff & Maloney
Rihanoff & Maloney

The pair became close friends during their time in Celebrity Big Brother. Now they unite again for Dance to the Music.

Christopher, who rose to fame through The X Factor in 2012, said: “We spent a lot of time together in the Big Brother house, 24 hours a day.

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“She dances and I sing, and we talked about doing something together in the show that she wanted to produce.

“I was helping her out with her charity, and she told me she was going to do the show and asked me if I would like to take part in it.

“It will be all the dances from the roaring 20s right up to the present day. I don’t dance! I never dance. But I will be singing, and the songs are amazing.

“It goes from Fred and Ginger right the way through to an Elvis medley in the 70s, almost up to date.”

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Christopher prides himself on his adaptability as a performer.

“I am quite a versatile singer. I can do West End and pop and swing. I am going to really enjoy it. It will be great to get a chance to show my range.

“This is totally different to any other show I have ever been part of. It is going to be epic. It will be amazing.”

For Christopher, it’s the latest adventure since his X Factor success.

“It has been five years. They have gone amazingly for me.”

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Lots of X Factor contestants disappear without trace after doing well. Christopher was determined to take his chance.

“It has been hard work really. I have worked really really hard.”

Along the way, he has become a panto regular, making his panto debut at the Kings in Southsea a year after his X Factor exposure.

“The X Factor was great, one of the best platforms there are if you are wanting to get your voice heard. I won the wild card and got 5.5 million people to vote for me and got the runner-up.

“But you have got to stay true to yourself.

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“Don’t ever change yourself. Don’t fool yourself. People were saying that they wanted to change my hair or my look or whatever.

“I just said that I didn’t want to be a person that I was not. They just said ‘Fine’. But it was Gary as well. It was mine and Gary’s decision.

“I have watched X-Factor and you see people at first and then you vote for them.

“And then you see them on the live rounds and they have had botox or changed their image or whatever.

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“And you just look at them and think that they are not the person that you actually voted for.”

After success comes, you’ve then got to capitalise on it: “That partly depends on the people that you have got around you. I am lucky that I have got a great team. I am really fortunate.

“You need that. I was catapulted from working in a call centre. You have got to think who you are, what you want to do, how you are going to do it.”

For Dance to the Music, in addition to Christopher’s vocals, Kristina will once again be paired with her former professional dance partner Robin Windsor, who himself starred on Strictly for four years.

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Also gracing the stage will be Oksana Platero, who partnered Judge Rinder on Series 14 of the BBC show, becoming famous for her jaw-dropping lifts. Oksana’shusband Jonathan is also in the cast, as is singer-songwriter Beth Sherburn.

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