Strictly's AJ and Love Island's Curtis Pritchard bring their dance extravaganza to Portsmouth Guildhall

Their dad Adrian was also a professional dancer and would perform on the original Come Dancing.

While AJ has appeared in four series of Strictly Come Dancing, his brother is probably better known at the moment for appearing on Love Island.

‘He’s best known for Love Island I guess,’ says AJ, ‘but now everybody seems to know and love him from (Saturday night BBC One show) The Greatest Dancer, which is really cool for him.

‘The funniest thing is with him, people are always asking, so can you dance? Well, actually, yeah, he's a professional dancer, so it's really good that this dance show is going to show off a side that nobody's ever seen before.’

They are appearing together in the show AJ Live, which is the older brother’s baby, and currently on a nationwide tour.

‘We've got a massive cast of 13 people, we’ve got live singers, we’ve got a giant video wall, we’ve got pyrotechnics, so it's not just a dance show, it's more of a whole concert and an “arena” feeling.

‘We start with all the stuff you know and love from Strictly, the ballroom and the latin and then in the second half of the show we use more props. We’ve got ropes, we’ve got umbrellas, we’ve got fans, and we're really using them to the best of our ability, so I’m really challenging myself as a dancer.

‘You know when you're dancing and you're being challenged that it's going to be a good performance.

‘Being the producer, the director, and I'm funding it myself, means all the decisions go through me – plus all the stress! But it’s good because I'm a control freak. If I'm putting my name to something, it is going to be good because I wouldn't put my name to it if it wasn't, that’s for sure. ‘

So has he ever worked with his brother before?

‘We always used to do shows together when we were young – we used to compete all over the world and we used to do shows together, but nobody's ever really seen that in the mainstream public eye.

‘We've started to do more presenting together on Lorraine and daytime TV, and other shows like that. But our dream, together, is to work and present that big Saturday night TV show as AJ and Curtis, so this is the opportunity to really showcase our personalities, and, obviously, dancing, having fun, and when you’re having fun on the stage that's a great thing.

Given the show is in AJ’s name, is there any sibling rivalry there at all?

‘Well, he’s got 1.6m Instagram followers and I’ve only got 700,000 or something,’ he laughs, ‘and it does say "featuring Curtis", so he’s ok with it.

'But he’s now realised that he’s doing every single number, and he’s actually dancing more than me, which is quite funny.'

AJ has got himself a name as the serial semi-finalist on Strictly, making it that far on three occasions so far.

'It's a painful truth, but it's the truth at the end of the day, and it’s even in my souvenir programme. It sounds a bit sad, but it keeps me motivated, that's for sure.'

Has he had the call yet to come back for this year's series?

'We haven’t had that phone call yet and, hopefully, God willing or whatever you want to say, I think I think I did a good job in the past four years, and hopefully I’ll be back for a fifth.'

And what does he think it would be like to get his hands on the show's coveted glitterball trophy?

'I think I’ll lose the plot if I win!'

AJ LIVE

Portsmouth Guildhall

Monday, March 16

portsmouthguildhall.org.uk