Dancing gran Paddy Jones steps up for Latin joy

Stourbridge salsa-dancing granny Paddy Jones is making waves in the Argentinian version of Strictly Come Dancing.

Click here to watch video footage of Paddy Jones

Paddy, who celebrated her 76th birthday on July 1, flies back out to Bueno Aires tomorrow after a three-week break to continue on Showmatch.

She competes on it against an array of Argentinian celebrities including models Sabrina Rojas and Sofia Pachano, boxer Flavio Mendoza and actor Matias Ale.

Paddy shot to fame on Tu Si Que Vales, the Spanish version of Britain's Got Talent, last year.

With her daring routines with dance partner Nicko Espinsa, they only narrowly missed out on the 100,000-euro prize.

She moved to Spain from Stourbridge, where she ran the Paddy's Fabrics shop in Coventry Street, with her husband David in 2001. She started dancing after he died shortly afterwards.

She said her agent was contacted just a few weeks after the Tu Si Que Vales final on December 30, asking the duo to appear on Showmatch.

The Argentinian show started in April, and Paddy could be there until Christmas if the couple's popularity continues with the judges. The audience will have a chance to vote in later stages of the show.

"People seem to like me as I'm just me, I don't change, whereas the other girls are very fake with silicone implants and botox," she said.

"Whereas the English Strictly Come Dancing is actually about the dancing, Showmatch tends to focus on skimpy costumes and shaking your bum. One of the dances we're expected to do is a striptease around a pole - I just hope that's one of the weeks when I'm visiting Spain again, can you imagine a grandmother doing that?"

Paddy said the dance duo, with 35 years age difference, had been enjoying all-star treatment in Argentina.

By Charlotte Cross