Ashley Banjo plays Cupid for Coleen Nolan and Made In Chelsea’s Miles Nazaire in a very special Flirty Dancing for Stand Up To Cancer

15 November 2019

The widely acclaimed innovative and feelgood hit, Flirty Dancing, is spinning back on to Channel 4 screens for a celebrity special for Stand Up To Cancer as presenter and choreographer extraordinaire Ashley Banjo embarks on a quest to find love for two famous faces. 

Taking to the dancefloor and entrusting their love lives with Ashley are Loose Women presenter and previously unlucky in love Nolan sister, Coleen and recently heartbroken Made in Chelsea star, Miles Nazaire. Ashley will create bespoke dance dates that allow Coleen and Miles to get to know their matches in a totally unique way. They won’t talk, they just dance, and when the music stops, they’ll walk away without saying a word. Based purely on the chemistry they feel in the dance, they must then decide whether or not to see each other again.

Coleen, who is twice-divorced, longs to find love again and craves romance. She and Ashley are good friends so she’s confident she’s putting her dating destiny in good hands. Ashley pairs her with a fellow Lancashire dweller; project manager Kevin who like Coleen, is also divorced and keen to find love again. Creating a sensual and romantic dance that he hopes will ignite a passionate connection in both of them, Ashley sends the pair off to dance in the picturesque grounds of a beautiful manor house. Will there be a spark, and might a second date be on the cards?  

When the love of his life fell for his best friend, Miles was left inconsolable, but he is determined not to give up hope. A fitness enthusiast and salsa lover, Ashley matches him with fitness vlogger and fellow foodie Steph who is also looking for someone to share her fast-paced and action-packed life with. Ashley choreographs his steamiest and most provocative dance yet full of passionate moves, risky lifts and racy eye contact. Meeting for their unique first date at a historic ballroom in London, will the risks pay off and will they want to meet again?

Coleen Nolan said, “Talking about my love life on TV is second nature to me but Flirty Dancing was a whole new ballgame. I don't think I’ve ever been so nervous! But I loved the show and as it's for such a good cause I decided to step out of my comfort zone and give it a go! I'm just glad Ashley Banjo, who's a great friend of mine was there to help, I knew I was in very safe hands with him! Hope everyone enjoys it! It’s no secret that cancer has deeply affected our family so I am course delighted to do anything I can to help raise money for Stand Up To Cancer. The work being done is phenomenal and it’s so important for us all to join together to really make a difference.”

Miles Nazaire added, “Dating in Chelsea isn’t always easy, and I’ve done my fair share without much success so I couldn’t think of anyone better to restore my faith in love than Ashley Banjo and his Flirty Dancing crew. I’m always happy to support the amazing work being done by Stand Up To Cancer, even if I do have to show off my questionable dance skills on TV!”

Since its launch in the UK in 2012, the RTS award-winning and BAFTA nominated Stand Up To Cancer, the joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4, has raised over £62 million to date funding 52 clinical trials and projects involving 11,000 cancer patients across the country.

Flirty Dancing is a Second Star production, part of Objective Media Group, and was commissioned by Sarah Lazenby, Head of Features and Formats and Sarah Dillistone, Commissioning Editor for Features and Formats at Channel 4. The Executive Producer for Second Star is Ami Jackson alongside Second Star CCO Deborah Sargeant, and the Series Producer is Genna Gibson.

 

FLIRTY DANCING IS ON FRIDAYS AT 8PM ON CHANNEL 4.

THE STAND UP TO CANCER SPECIAL WILL TX IN DECEMBER

 

For further information:

Lesley Land, lland@channel4.co.uk – 0207 306 8597 

 

Notes to editors

 

About Stand Up To Cancer (UK) 

• Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 that brings the UK together to speed up progress in life-saving cancer research
• Launched in the UK in 2012, Stand Up To Cancer funds translational research, turning academic breakthroughs in the labs into new treatments that make a real difference for people with cancer
• More than £62 million has been raised in the UK to date, funding 52 clinical trials and projects involving 11,000 cancer patients across the country
• Research projects include the development of pioneering technology to detect super low levels of cancerous DNA in blood to improve the way we diagnose ovarian cancer, developing a new immunotherapy drug to boost the power of the immune system against cancer, exploring an entirely new approach to treating bowel cancer, and much more
• Stars such as Naomi Campbell, Noel Gallagher, Tom Hardy, Gillian Anderson, Idris Elba, Andy Murray, James Corden, Martin Freeman, Jamie Oliver, Richard Ayoade, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Crouch, Abbey Clancy, Danny Dyer, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Lily James, Rosamund Pike, Sophie Turner, Stephen Graham, Toby Jones, Maya Jama, Joe Lycett and Roman Kemp are just some of the talent who have supported Stand Up To Cancer  

To find out more about fundraising activities visit channel4.co.uk/SU2C or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram 

 

About Second Star:

Second Star specialises in storytelling through factual entertainment, formats and reality. It launched in 2016 and its formats include Flirty Dancing, fronted by Ashley Banjo for Channel 4. Series one of Flirty Dancing has been sold globally, as has the Flirty Dancing format - IDTV in the Netherlands aired on SBS6 earlier this year; the US version for Fox with presenter Jenna Dewan launches in December 2019, and format versions in Slovenia and Sweden are due to air in 2020. Previous hit shows include Britain Today, Tonight (a co-production with Brown Bred and 2LE for Channel 4), Stupid Man, Smart Phone (a co-production with Kalel Productions for BBC Worldwide and BBC Three), and It Was Alright in the 70s (Channel 4). It is headed up by chief creative officer Deborah Sargeant, who joined from Sky where she was commissioning editor, non-scripted. Prior to that Deborah was executive producer at Tiger Aspect and EndemolUK. Second Star is part of Objective Media Group.

ENDS