'Within four weeks, I lost a stone and a half'
As a Gladiator, Olympian and Strictly Come Dancing alumni, Montell Douglas is no stranger to hard graft and disciplined regimes. But the fitness required for dancing was a whole new ball(room) game for Montell, as she admits to Closer that it was 'poles apart' from what she'd become accustomed to for Gladiators.
The sportswoman, 39, tells us that within five days of finishing filming for Gladiators, she was in fittings for Strictly, sparking the realisation that she needed to home in on her mobility and flexibility. She reveals, 'I had built a lot of muscle and put on a lot of mass, which doesn't move that well sometimes. So I knew that being stiff and rigid was going to be tricky for Strictly.'
Montell continues, 'I started a stretching regime - so I was stretching for two hours a day. I was getting into [rehearsals] an hour before, just to stretch. I remember Johannes [Radebe] saying at about week seven or eight, "Gosh, we wouldn't have been able to do that in week one!" Within four weeks, I lost a stone and a half.'
The sporting star explained that with her forte lying in power events, doing extreme cardio for eight hours a day was 'a lot'. She says, 'I came off the show really fit but in a different way, which opens up your mind to what you can do when you just move your body in a different way.'
During the Strictly launch, Montell confessed that she was most apprehensive about dancing in heels - a skill that took time and effort to master. 'I'm a trainer girl,' she told us. 'Everything's fine until you put a Latin shoe on, because those things are wobbly. For the first few days, Johannes and I did about three to four hours a day just walking [in heels], no joke. Now, I can walk like a pro, but I had to walk for hours in those shoes at the very beginning!'
Now, in a less physical challenge, Montell has partnered with the Department for Education's Skills for Life campaign, which is centred on building healthy learning habits.
So, what are some of her personal goals for 2025? Excitingly, enrolling to complete a Master's is on the checklist, which will involve writing a dissertation on female leadership. She tells us, 'I do honestly love to learn. But I want to walk the walk as well. Hopefully, by 40, I can say, "I've got my third degree and I know sign language at conversation level" - at least!'
