Alesha Dixon

I've not been anywhere in Central or South America before. The closest I've been is Cancun and Cabo in Mexico. But I think I'd love the culture, the sprit, and the energy of Brazil.

You can't always trust people with your heart, but you should still love anyway. That's what I would say.

I do enjoy the dressing up. I like to have fun with fashion, and while the cameras can be a bit intense, I love the final result... I tend to treat the whole process with a pinch of salt!

I love the fact that I can live a spontaneous lifestyle.

We always have a really bad dancer on 'Strictly,' like Kate Garraway or Fiona Phillips, and that's great, and we love it, but when it comes to the quarters and semis, you want the best dancers left in.

I love to look good - I love to get glammed up - but it's not the most important thing in my world, and I'm not afraid to not be perfect. I can see where there is a lot of pressure 'cause we live in a very visual world, but I try to go a bit deeper than that. Things are just more important!

I've always had a passion for dancing, and I wasn't lucky enough to go to stage school, so when I got onto the show, I was like a kid in a sweet shop. I went into it just to have fun. The support was overwhelming, to say the least. It wasn't until the end of the show that I realised how much I really wanted to win it.

In terms of the culture, you can't beat Japan. It's my favourite country. It's one of those places you never want to leave. I love the people, I love the food, and I love their fashion because they're not afraid to experiment.

A family holiday to Jamaica in 2004 - my uncle was getting married out there, and it was the first holiday I'd had in Jamaica, which is where my father is from. My friends and I stayed in a really plush hotel, The Ritz-Carlton, so we had a great experience.

I used to be really afraid and anxious of taking on too much, and the older I'm getting, the more fearless I'm becoming. Life is so much more relaxed when you're like that.

Life's too short to dwell on things. When you go through experiences that are bad, it's a good thing. You learn from it - become a stronger person. Life is a roller coaster, and you don't know what's going to be thrown at you next, so all you can do is give it your best shot.

People worry about their looks going, but go deeper, and you realise you know yourself more and you're more comfortable in your own skin and more settled within yourself, and that's a really great basis on which to live your life.