John Barnes Strictly: Facts About The Life Of John Barnes & Strictly

John Barnes is a Jamaican-born British former footballer, rapper, and manager. John Charles Bryan Barnes was born on November 7, 1963. He is 59 years old as of 2022. He is working as a commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport. He is always remembered for his rap in the England World Cup theme song, “World In Motion” by New Order. He got invited to participate in the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing and was partnered with Nicole Cutler. He is the son of Roderick Kenrick “Ken” Barnes and Frances Jeanne Hill. Currently, John is a football match analyst and is also an ambassador for the Save The Children charity.

John Barnes: Profile Summary

John Barnes was born and initially raised in Jamaica. His father was a military officer from Trinidad and Tobago called Roderick Kenrick “Ken” Barnes and his mother was a Jamaican called Frances Jeanne Hill. At age 12, he relocated to London with his family.

John Barnes: Career

At the age of 17, John joined Watford and had since made 296 appearances for the club, scoring 85 goals. He was noticed by Watford while playing for Middlesex League club Sudbury Court and got signed on July 14, 1981, for a fee of a set of kits after a successful trial game in Watford’s reserves. He made his debut for England in 1983 and four years later joined Liverpool for £900,000.

He won the then top-flight First Division twice (1987 and 1997) and the FA Cup twice with Liverpool, scoring 106 goals in 403 matches. He experienced successful periods at Watford and Liverpool and also played for the England national team on 79 occasions.

He got the fifth position in a poll of Liverpool fans’ favorite players and a year later he was named Liverpool’s best player of all time by FourFourTwo magazine. He ended his playing career at Charlton Athletic in 1999 after Newcastle United. Since retiring from playing, John is recently a football match analyst and is also an ambassador for the Save The Children charity.

John Barnes Strictly Come Dancing

John Barnes participated in the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering with Nicole Cutler. The ex-Liverpool FC and England star became the eighth person to be removed from the popular reality show. John had a natural rhythm, and their Cha Cha Cha in week one got great feedback from the judges.

They scored 26 points and were placed on top of the leaderboard. John had a Jive that did not suit him on his next dance in week three, followed by two ballroom dances, which were made difficult by John’s poor posture. Len thought it was best to award John the first 10 of the series. John brought up another ballroom dance and was back to the bottom of the leaderboard.

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In week eight, a return to Latin, with a Samba, but it was bottom of the leaderboard again, in the bottom two with the public vote added in. John was eliminated after the dance-off. He left the competition, finishing seventh out of fourteen couples.

About Strictly Come Dancing

Strictly Come Dancing is also known as Strictly. The title of the show is a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom. The show is a British television dance competition where celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in the main ballroom and Latin dance.

Every combined couple is scored by a panel of judges. The show was created by Fenia Vardanis, Richard Hopkins, and Karen Smith. It was developed by Karen Smith and presented by Sir Bruce Forsyth, Tess Daly, and Claudia Winkleman.

The layout of the show has been sent out to 60 other countries, under the title Dancing with the Stars: licensed by BBC Worldwide. It has led to a modern dance-themed spin-off Strictly Dance Fever. The Guinness World Records has named Strictly to be the world’s most successful reality television format.