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Strictly Come Dancing contestant Melanie Walters offered her own answer to Gavin and Stacey’s long-standing fishing trip mystery ahead of her first dance in the ballroom.
The Welsh actor, 64, was one of the 15 celebrities to take to the dance floor for the first time on Saturday (26 September) night as the 24th series of the dance competition kicked off.
In her first VT, the Swansea native took her partner Aljaz Skorjanec to Barry Island in Wales, where she first starred as beloved character Gwen West in the sitcom back in 2007.
“When I got the scripts through for Gavin and Stacey, I just thought, ’Oh my goodness, now this is brilliant,’” she said. “It’s changed my life.”
Off camera, the show’s producer could then be heard asking Walters: ”So Gwen, what happened on the fishing trip?”
The question of what happened during a fishing trip between Uncle Bryn, played by Rob Brydon, and his nephew Jason West, played by Robert Wilfort, was a long-running joke on Gavin and Stacey, and subject of speculation among fans.
Responding on Strictly, Walters jokingly explained: “OK, so it was a really very, very dark night,” while acting out a series of hand gestures.
“And that was that,” she said.
The fishing trip did not take place during Gavin and Stacey, and referred to a mysterious event outside of the timeline of the show that Bryn and his nephew refused to discuss.
While 2024’s Christmas special teased an explanation of what might have happened on that fishing trip, the writers continued to leave viewers guessing and refused to reveal any major details.
At the time, actor Wilfort said of the fishing trip: “I’d like to say now and forever, the joke has always been you don’t find out.”
Defending the decision not to reveal what happened on the trip, he continued: “I’m sorry everybody, but that has always been the joke and it always will be because it’s funny. It’s funnier that way. And I was so pleased that we didn’t reveal it because we never know what it is.”
Walters is the first of Gavin and Stacey’s key cast members to compete on Strictly, with the first week seeing her and Skorjanec dancing a Cha Cha Cha to “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee.
The couple received a score of two from Craig Revel Horwood, fours from Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas and a five from Anton Du Beke.
No couples will be eliminated from the first week of Strictly; rather, the week one scores will be added to the second week’s, when the public will also be able to vote for their favourite couples for the first time.
