Strictly Come Dancing’s Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton have said they are feeling extra pressure as the favourites to win this year’s series.

Professional dancer Kevin told ITV’s This Morning: “You don’t want to be the favourites.”

And Stacey, who lives in Brighton, said: “He gets the same chat every time because he’s been in the final so many times.

“They’re always like, ‘is it your year, is it this year?’.”

Documentary maker Stacey and her partner have thrilled audiences on the BBC show every week and been consistently high on the leader board.

Kevin said: “It’s just adding to the pressure, because I’ve been runner-up four times on the show, and everybody’s going, ‘with Stacey it’s going to be your year, the bookies are saying this is it’, and it’s like, ‘stop it!’.”

The dancer also said that performing in Blackpool, an annual Strictly tradition which will be happening this weekend, was another source of added pressure.

He said: “You feel you want to do something special. Out of all your dances you do in the series, you don’t want Blackpool to be a bit of an average one, you want to go out and do something special, because everyone gears up for Blackpool week.”