Rose Matafeo may be starring on various TV series at the moment, but she has stated that her ambition to compete on Strictly Come Dancing has faded.
Since moving to London in 2015, the New Zealand comedian has been on programmes such as Pointless, Taskmaster, The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off, and is one of the hosts of the forthcoming Junior Taskmaster.
However, Rose, 31, stated a few years ago that one of her professional goals was to compete on the BBC reality dancing show.
She has now backtracked and stated that she does not feel she has what it takes.
‘Oh wait what- did I say that?’ she said when speaking to Metro.co.uk.
‘I think I am off the idea now. I have done my hip and I am getting old, and I am going to have to have about 15 years of rehab on my body and then I will be back to it.
‘If I could become a bionic woman by the time I am in my 60s… [that might be an option] but not now. I can barely get up in the morning now…’
Fortunately, Rose has plenty of other projects to keep her busy (and give the ideal excuse to avoid the dancing), including producing, co-writing, and starring in Starstruck, the screwball comedy that returns to television screens next week for its third season.
She plays Jessie, a woman whose one-night encounter with famous actor Tom (Nikesh Patel) led to an unexpected romance, as well as a glimpse into the benefits and drawbacks of dating a celebrity.
After some back and forth over the previous two seasons, the programme is back, but the romance has long since faded, and the first episode begins with the pair calling it quits.
When the teaser was released last week, viewers were horrified to learn that the protagonist was in her ‘post-Tom phase,’ eliciting passionate reactions from fans, some of whom felt it was a ‘kick in the stomach’ to see the rom-com had taken this turn.
Rose believes many people will be astonished by the storyline twist, but she admits she was the one who ‘made it so’.
‘I think fans will be [surprised] but that can only be a good thing for the third series because every time you are not only progressing that story, but there are a different set of challenges each time,’ she explained.
‘It did take us awhile to figure out where we wanted that story to go because there were so many directions it could have gone at the end of the second series.’
She added: ‘We had a little bit more time to develop the scripts and to think about what we wanted to say and make in a romantic comedy.’
While Jessie’s friends are getting married and having children, she is still trying to figure out what path she wants to pursue, a feeling shared by many millennials.
‘I think it is so hard to figure out at this age what is making you feel bad or uncomfortable about the position you are in and whether is it actually how you feel or is it actually the people around you or is it society in general telling you that you should be here by now?’ Rose pondered.
‘It’s overwhelming to figure out and can feel like there is pressure to achieve certain milestones, and cliched ones in a way, and when you look into yourself you wonder if it’s really what you want.
‘That is something Jessie [grapples with] and it’s also something I relate to and also put that into the character.’
While Tom’s celebrity is less fascinating to Jessie and many of her pals years later, Rose has had to adjust to people reacting strangely when they see her in public in recent years.
‘Yes [people get somewhat starstruck] but that is just sort of the natural by-product of being on television,’ she laughed.
‘And it always changes depending on who it is. The other day I was in Devon in a shop and some older women were giving me funny looks but then I’d realised I’d been on Pointless that week.
‘Honestly Pointless is probably the show that has caused people to become a little starstruck by me.’
With three seasons of the programme under her belt and a slew of devoted admirers, can Rose point out a particularly thrilling endorsement from a celebrity?
‘When the first series came out Dawn French said she watched it and that was really cool,’ she recalled.
‘I’ve never met her, but she was such a part of my childhood and just comedy upbringing.
‘It’s hard to be like “oh it’s so great when a celebrity watches the show”, because it’s so great when anyone does.
‘But it is quite sweet to know that someone you admire comedically enjoyed what you made. There are a few others…but you can never tell if they’re lying. They might just be wanting to get a job!’
Following the wonderful choice of Minnie Driver in the first season as Tom’s rather intimidating agent Cath, and subsequently Russell Tovey as a director named Dave, this time around John Simm portrays an unpleasant actor who takes his job in a West End show with Tom a bit too seriously at times.
‘It was so exciting to have him and he was so good. He was so perfect for that role,’ she teased.
‘Russell and Minnie I think have had cathartic experiences playing villainous versions of those entertainment people that they’ve encountered.’
While there’s no news yet on another season, Rose has said she’d love to enlist Yellowjackets star, and fellow Kiwi, Melanie Lynskey to play her ‘half-sister who lives abroad’.
‘I’ve never met her but used to stalk her on Instagram all the time and in Starstruck canon she is my sister,’ she shared.
Starstruck returns on Monday August 28 at 10pm on BBC Three.
Source My Celebrity Life.
