Zuraida, hubby jet off on a year�s American adventure

Who would have thought competition so tough? Leon Muston catches up with the dancing DJ

ZURAIDA Jardine has been a firm fan-favourite on Strictly Come Dancing, having come first in SABC2�s reality dancing competition for four weeks in a row.

But unfortunately the 5fm DJ�s fans have very little time left to see her on South African television, as she and husband Josh Lindberg are about to jet off to the US for at least a year.

�Josh and I applied for green cards when we first met a number of years ago,� Jardine said.

�We�ve been putting it off, but everything about taking the trip seemed right now and nothing about it seemed scary,� she said.

Jardine said the couple�s intention was to spend a few months in New York and then hire a car for a six-month road trip across the US, adding that they had not planned a route yet.

�I�ll still phone reports through to 5fm,� said Jardine, who, the station says, will take the role of a roving lifestyle reporter.

She said she would also aim to do a few press junkets for South African television programmes while she was in the US.

In addition to Strictly Come Dancing, TV addicts will also have been used to seeing Jardine on Vicious Delicious, which is broadcast on M-Net at 10.30am on Saturdays and on the Go channel on DSTV on Saturdays at 5pm and 8.30pm, and Thursdays at 6pm and 11.40pm.The programme focuses on music, movies, art, sport and other live events.

Jardine said she had recorded enough episodes of Vicious Delicious in advance to take the show to the end of March, at which point the programme would come to an end.

�Then my only commitments will be to Strictly Come Dancing and 5fm,� she said.

The invitation to participate in the reality dance competition had come out of the blue.

�They called me and I said yes, but now I can�t believe I entered the biggest challenge of my life,� Jardine said.

�I don�t have any dance experience,� she added. �It�s one of the rules of the show that you must not have had any formal training before.

�I�ve got on fantastically well with my dance partner, Michael (Wentlick), and we�ve really made the relationship work.

�Michael and I look good together from an aesthetic point of view and will probably remain friends once the series ends. At the moment we�re putting in five hours a day, six days a week,� she said.

Jardine said coming first four weeks in a row had been �a real boost to my self-esteem�.

�It�s a really nice feeling learning to do a dance, putting on a show, being judged on your performance and being well received by the audience,� she said.

But she refused to be drawn on whether or not she could win the competition.

�I don�t know � the thing is each week we start from scratch.

�Fifty per cent of the result depends on the public and the other half on the judges, so even if one side votes against you, you still have a chance of making it through.

�Even if we make it to the final, you don�t know how voting will go on the night,� she said.

Jardine said her proudest moment at 5fm was when the station gave her the 9am to midday week-day slot.

�The daytime weekday slots have always been male dominated and I became the first woman to host a major daytime slot,� Jardine said.

�I�ve had a number of amazing experiences I�d never have had if I hadn�t been involved with the station.�

Jardine says she and Lindberg, the son of singing duo Des and Dawn, haven�t made any plans for when their American journey reaches its end.

�We�ve both taken a sabbatical. We don�t have any set time frames and just want to go with the flow.

�We�ll be keeping our houses in South Africa and we might come back early if things don�t go right, or we might decide to stay in the US,� Jardine said.

�We�ll cross that bridge when we come to it.�

� Strictly Come Dancing is screened on SABC2 at 8pm on Saturdays.

---

Switchon