Jukebox theatre show Rip It Up will delight audiences at the Wycombe Swan next week - as Strictly Come Dancing champions Harry Judd and Louis Smith, and people’s champion Aston Merrygold, tour together as the ultimate boy band of dance. 

Despite having two Olympic bronze medals and two silver medals under his belt, gymnast Louis, 29, said his training for the new sixties-themed show was “much harder” than any Olympic training he has ever done. 

He said: “It was by the hardest thing I have ever done in my life! It’s ten times easier training for the Olympic Games than it was getting ready for the Rip It Up tour, for sure. In terms of effort, I would rather prepare for the Olympic Games.”

Following the smash-hit success of Rip It Up’s 1950s-themed debut tour in 2017, which sold more than 50,000 tickets, the 2018 tour looks set to bring the fabulous soundtrack of the 1960s to life in an explosion of song and dance.

Louis says as a young boy, he never would have imagined himself touring as a dancer. 

He said: “I have always loved performing and challenging myself, but never would I have thought I would be on stage performing in a UK dance tour.

“It is mind-blowing and I don’t take it for granted. I have always appreciated it, and been grateful for the amount of hard work my mum put in to me and helped me get to where I am. She is an angel.”

Rip It Up comes to the Wycombe Swan on September 12. For more information and tickets, call 01494 512 000 or visit wycombeswan.co.uk.