Strictly Come Dancing Live: Ore Oduba speaks ahead of Birmingham show

He loved the show and he'd previously interviewed Claudia Winkleman in his role as a TV presenter two years before. But the idea that he could outgun the other celebrity dancers and win the Glitterball Trophy was a million miles from his mind.

"Honestly, I didn't even think about it," he says, and he's clearly telling the truth. "I didn't even consider winning. I didn't even consider winning after she'd said we'd won. I was so baffled and speechless. I can't put it into words.

"It was never in our thinking. I just wanted to have a great time and learn. I guess the fact we had a great time translated to people who voted for us."

See Ore compete in the Strictly Come Dancing 2016 final here:

There won't be the pressure, of course, when he's dancing on the road. The need to please judges, or fans, isn't quite as intense as it is on TV.

"Yeah, that'll be great. The pressure of the show was quite intense. It was hard. But those hardships made the best bits even more worth it.

"The hardest bit was always Monday. Everyone talks about 'Manic Monday'. It's the day after results day, if you're lucky enough to be back, and you've got a dance fully loaded in your head and you have to get rid of it. Then all the anxieties come flooding back. But there's nothing like that breaking down and building up: that's why it's so rewarding."

Ore is looking forward to coming up to Birmingham. He saw Justin Bieber on tour here last year and was also present at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards, just before Christmas.

"I wasn't ready for the response. Birmingham hosted the sports awards at the Genting Arena and after the show, my wife wasn't feeling so great so we were going to go back to the hotel rather than the party.

"The cheering was huge. I'd never heard a noise like that. It was overwhelming. Then, when we were going to leave, the security guys came over and told me it would be safer to wait inside. They said there were quite a few of the Birmingham crowd who wanted to say hello."

Ore thought there might be three or four autograph hunters. At a push, maybe 10.

He hadn't realised the power of Strictly.

"There were 200 or 300 people waiting outside the door. The worst thing was, the door was glass. So we waited for it to die down, but they could see us so the crowd just amassed. In the end, we just had to leave otherwise we'd have been there all night. We actually had to have a security escort back to the hotel because there was so many people there. When we saw Justin Bieber, there was no-one."

Ore is surfing the waves while he's flavour of the month on Strictly. He won't be sad when the attention dies down – but he's enjoying it while it lasts.

"There'll be a whole new crop of people. I know it will come to an end. It was so amazing, it was incredible and for me, I just want to say thank you to people. That's what the tour is. The whole cast of 15 couples and the production team, it's such a great group. I can't wait to hit the road."

He's unsure what the future holds, as rumours swirl of £500,000 TV offers to become one of the nation's leading presenters. He'd hoped the show would boost his profile but he had no idea how much impact it would have.

For now, he's simply content to focus on his cha cha cha and foxtrot as he returns to the road. And he thinks he'll look back on his Strictly experience as being one of the happiest and most important of his life.

"It's a long way from doing kids' tv," he adds. "But my background in that helped me to understand the responsibility that comes with doing things like Strictly. People really look up to you and you have to make sure you don't let anyone down."

So far, Ore hasn't let a soul down. And as he prepares to trip the light fantastic in Birmingham, he's unlikely to anytime soon.

By Andy Richardson