Dozy Dancing: Flavia Cacace despairs of Louis Smith's Strictly Come Sleeping
The last thing you’d expect of an Olympic star is for them to need a nap every few minutes.
So Flavia Cacace was surprised and annoyed to discover that her Strictly Come Dancing partner Louis Smith has to have a lie down every quarter of an hour.
The professional dancer has complained about the gymnast’s lack of concentration during rehearsals, staring into space, messing about on Twitter and “playing with the air-conditioning unit”, saying “I feel a bit like his mum”.
Smith’s mum Elaine does in fact come to training with the silver-medal star, bringing him his lunch most days.
Speaking of Smith’s naps, Cacace said: "I was in shock when he first curled up on the floor, pulled his hoodie over his head and asked me to give him five minutes in the middle of training."
Smith, who was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a child, told the Radio Times that he needed regular rests for injuries he sustained during the Olympics, including torn cartilage in his knee, a fractured ulna and swollen vertebrae in his back.
But Carace said she found it difficult working with someone who lacked motivation.
She told the new edition of Radio Times, for which Smith appears on the cover: "Unlike other sportsmen, Louis doesn't push himself - he needs someone to do it for him."
