Dancing With The Stars contestant Erica Cody has revealed she’s dedicating her dance this week to Samantha Mumba.
This Sunday, the celebrities will perform a special dance dedicated to an important figure in their lives, and Erica chose to honour her childhood idol.
The 26-year-old singer will dance the tango this Sunday to Samantha’s hit song Body II Body, alongside her professional dance partner Denys Samson.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s show, Erica recalled how Samantha “inspired” her from an early age.
She said: “When I was growing up there wasn’t much representation when it came to women of colour or black women in general that I could see on TV that were doing thing’s that I wanted to do, like singing, performing and being Grammy nominated.”
“For her [Samantha] to have done all that when I was at such a young and impressionable age, she means a great deal to me.”
“I wanted to dedicate it to someone who inspired me to actually just go for it and show me that it is possible, there’s room for everyone no matter who you are or what life you come from.”
Erica explained: “It was kind of inevitable that I dedicated it to her because it’s a real full-circle moment for me after doing Princess and the Frog for movie week…”
“The amount of messages I got off parents and young kids saying ‘you’re that representation for us now’ – it means so much and it’s only right, it’s a no brainer really.”
When asked if Samantha will be there on the night, Erica revealed: “She’ll be watching, I got to tell her the other day, we had a really lovely moment…”
“She will be watching but I don’t know if she will be here, because she is based in the US unless she wants to fly in and surprise me.”
So far, Erica has made history on DWTS by receiving the highest score for a first routine in the show’s history.
When asked if she wants to win this year’s contest, the songstress confessed she’s “naturally very competitive”.
“Why would I not want to do it to win it?” she said. “It’s such an amazing experience and it goes by so quick, and of course you want to make it through each week.”
“I’d be lying if I said I was just doing it for the experience, I am doing it for the experience but I’m also doing it because I want to win.”
“I’m really just taking it in my stride, I’m having the most amazing time, It’s the best experience I’ve ever been a part of. Denys is amazing, he’s an incredible teacher.”
“This is an experience that can just end really quickly and it goes by so fast, so I’m really just trying to live in the moment day by day and week by week,” she added.
Dancing With The Stars continues this Sunday, but there will be no elimination this weekend.
In a twist this week, the celebrity with the highest overall score will receive a free pass to week 7.
This Sunday, there will only be eight celebrities performing as Missy Keating has been forced to pull out of the show after testing positive for Covid-19.
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Watch the full show below:
