Meet Max George - Strictly Come Dancing 2020 contestant and former The Wanted member

A glance at this week's Strictly Come Dancing songs and dances shows us they've chosen a much more traditional routine this time, with Dianne Buswell choreographing a dreamy American Smooth to Harry Connick Jr's It Had to Be You.

They need to keep climbing the Strictly Come Dancing leaderboard if they stand a chance of snatching the glitterball from the likes of Bill Bailey, Maisie Smith and HRVY in this year's impressive Strictly Come Dancing line-up.

Here's everything you need to know about Max George and his Strictly journey so far.

Who is Max George?

Age: 31

Instagram: @maxgeorge

Twitter: @MaxGeorge

Job: Singer/songwriter, formerly of The Wanted

Partnered with: Dianne Buswell

Max is a singer-songwriter best known as one of the members of the popular boy band The Wanted, who were active from 2009 to 2014.

With the band, he scored two UK number one hits with All Time Low and Glad You Came while the group also made the top 10 in the UK Singles Chart on a further eight occasions.

Since the band went on indefinite hiatus six years ago, Max has embarked on a solo career - releasing his first single Barcelona in 2018. He has also done some acting work including appearing in a recurring role as Clint on Glee.

Max is no stranger to reality TV: before he found fame as a member of The Wanted he had appeared in the third series of The X Factor in 2006 as part of the boy band Avenue.

The band sailed through their audition and also made it past boot camp and judges' houses, only to be disqualified from the show before the live finals as they were already signed to a record label.

He'll be hoping his second major reality TV appearance doesn't end so abruptly!

Max George's Strictly journey so far

Scoreboard

Week one: Tango (5 + 6 + 6) = 17

Week two: Jive (6 + 7 + 7) = 20

Week three: Couple's choice (8 + 8 + 8) = 24

Max George is going from strength to strength in the competition so far. While his Simpsons-inspired couple's choice routine proved divisive (especially the moment where he played Dianne's leg like a saxophone!), his scores have dramatically improved week on week.

Having started with a tango, the Wanted singer impressed the judges with his toe-tapping Jive to The Monkees' I'm A Believer in week two, which earned him a stellar 20 points, before scoring 24 in Movie Week.

Hopefully Max hasn't wasted too much time scrubbing all of that yellow paint off his face and arms, because he has a challenging routine this weekend. He'll be performing a classy American Smooth to It Had to Be You, by Harry Connick Jr, which should involve some lifts - exciting!

Singer and actor Max was announced as part of the Strictly Come Dancing line-up back in September, revealing he's hoping not to get any of Craig Revel Horwood's 'harsh judging'.

On being confirmed as part of this year's line-up, Max said he was excited and made a reference to his former bandmate's time on the show.

"Buzzing to be on Strictly this year," he said. "Not really one for the dance floor, but I take a lot of comfort in the fact that Jay McGuiness set The Wanted’s bar so low…"

Meanwhile, Max's gran recorded a short message for him after hearing of his participation which was played in full on The One Show, with Max claiming on Twitter that it had made his year.

https://twitter.com/MaxGeorge/status/1300883753175339012

Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One on Saturdays at 7:15pm and Sundays at 7:10pm. You can see the full celebrity Strictly Come Dancing line-up here. To find out what else is on in the mean time, check out our TV Guide.