Just days ago, she might have been expecting to spend her Saturday evening curled up on the sofa watching Strictly.
Instead, Amber Davies will tonight appear on the show as a contestant having agreed to replace fellow Love Island star Dani Dyer, who fractured her ankle in rehearsals.
Ms Davies, 28, who won the ITV reality dating show the year before Ms Dyer did, will have had just one day of training with professional Nikita Kuzmin before the pair are thrust on to live TV.
She said preparing for the first live show of the series this week had been a whirlwind – although she’s no stranger to the spotlight, being a West End performer.
Bosses had hoped that Ms Dyer, 29, would go far in the competition, but the ‘heartbroken’ mother-of-three announced her departure on Tuesday following an MRI scan.
Despite the unorthodox start, Ms Davies could have a high chance of success given her experience – which includes lead roles in musicals including Pretty Woman, Dolly Parton show 9 to 5, and The Great Gatsby.
The Welsh star said her decision to join Strictly was followed by the ‘craziest 24 hours of my life’.
‘I’ve watched Strictly with my family since I was younger and to now be part of the show is a dream come true,’ she said.
‘I’m going to give it my all and I am sending Dani well wishes for a speedy recovery. I hope I do her proud.’
Just tonight she shared a photo of herself and Mr Kuzmin in the dance studio, as they worked on a waltz.
‘Rehearsals in full swing,’ she wrote on Instagram. ‘Thanks for all the love, still in shock!’
Ms Davies began her showbiz career by training at the highly regarded Urdang Academy, a performing arts college in London, graduating in 2016.
She had taken dance as a GCSE subject at school and trained at Danceworld Stage School.
In the years before Love Island, she worked as a dancer at London nightclub Cirque Le Soir and sang backing vocals for The X Factor.
Upon entering the ITV dating show in 2017, she said: ‘I’m Amber, I am 20 years old and I am a dancer.’
She also competed on ITV’s Dancing On Ice last year, coming fourth.
At the time, she insisted her dance experience would be of no benefit, telling the Daily Mail: ‘Honestly in skating I’ve had to bin half of my dance training anyway.
‘Everything in dancing is keep straight legs and you kind of have to let go when you’re on the ice.’
After Love Island, she bagged a string of West End parts, starring alongside Olympian Louis Smith in the musical Bring It On.
Her next role is the lead in an upcoming Legally Blonde musical.
Her experience has been noted by the bookies – within minutes of her joining Strictly, they had her down as one of the favourites to win.
