Exclusive: Iconic Emmerdale star Lisa Riley on finding love, weight loss and why co-star will win Strictly

Emmerdale icon Lisa Riley is confident that her co-star Lawrence Robb is going to be the one lifting that Glitterball trophy at the end of this year's Strictly Come Dancing.

The Mandy Dingle actor spoke exclusively to Digital Spy and told us that Robb, who plays Mackenzie Boyd on the ITV1 soap, has got it in him to win.

"We're cheering him all the way, and he's got the Scottish vote. He's going to have so much unbelievable support", she said.

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"All he has to do is be him. I'll shake on you now that Lawrence Robb will be in the final. I will shake a grand on it right now."

Soap stars have done pretty well on Strictly over the years, with plenty of winners coming from that world. The last time an Emmerdale star won was in 2019 with Kelvin Fletcher, who famously only joined the show as a replacement for Jamie Laing.

Of course, Riley herself took part in Strictly in 2012 and managed a very respectable fifth place.

While she didn't win the show, the show did help her find love, as her partner Al was playing in the show's band at the time.

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"I call it the Strictly win! All the producers who I'm still friends with from the show, they say we are the Strictly win-win", she said. "I'm not going to tell you [how I caught his eye], but let's say it was the northern touch."

Despite finding love, Riley said that she can't ever see herself getting married: "I've never wanted that flouncy day — I live in my tracksuit and trainers — my dad says I dress like a 14-year-old."

Last year, the actor competed in another huge end-of-year reality show when she jetted off to Australia for I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, and once again finished in fifth place.

She told us that the main thing she took away from her jungle experience is making more healthy choices. She said: "I think everyone can see I lost a lot of weight and it's just about making the right choices. [I lost] a stone and a half, and I’ve kept it off."

Her secret? "It's just things like not eating as much bread. We always blame the carbs, but it is the truth. You have your starter, but the old me would have had bread. I don't have the bread anymore, and I don't have the pasta."

Riley added that you won't see her posting bikini snaps on Instagram, and that's she unlikely to use weight-loss injections or anything like that.

She concluded: "I like the fact that everything is me and I'm 50 now."

Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight on BBC One and iPlayer at 6.30pm. Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.

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