James Jordan wins £30K for Kent charity

From Strictly Come Dancing to Dancing on Ice to raising money for charity; James Jordan does it all.

The former ballroom dancer appeared as a contestant on ITV’s Celebrity Catchphrase in the first week of January and won a grand cash prize of £29,700 for Demelza Hospice, based in Sittingbourne. On the iconic 80’s gameshow remake Catchphrase, James went head to head with fellow contestants, Celebrity X Factor Judge Louis Walsh and Emmerdale actress Fiona Wade, for a chance to win up to £50,000 worth of life-changing funds for their charity of choice.

James, who is from Gillingham, Kent, described Demelza Hospice Care for Children as ‘a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant cause’. “It would be really amazing to win £50,000. I’m from Kent and it’s a local charity, and they really desperately need the money.”

James grew up in Walderslade and started dance classes at a local hall before moving onto Margaret Preedy Dance Studios in Maidstone.

The host of the popular show and Britain’s Got Talent presenter, Stephen Mulhern joked about if James had a ‘cha-cha-chance of winning’, however, James surprised everyone. It looked like Fiona Wade was in with a chance of winning until James wowed everyone by quick-stepping his way around the competition to make it through to the Super Catchphrase, where, to his own surprise, he won an astonishing £25,000 to add to his winnings with a correct answer in the final seconds and took home a fantastic amount of money. He expressed his happiness over the results, “I thought I was rubbish! I’m very excited and happy for Demelza.”

The star took to Twitter to announce the news, saying: “So I won £29,700 for charity! Thank you to Catchphrase and ITV for having these kinds of game shows where we can win that kind of money to hopefully change people’s lives.”

James’ wife Ola tweeted her congratulations, saying: “Well done to my clever hubby for winning Catchphrase! More importantly well done for winning £29,700 for the wonderful charity that is Demelza.”

Demelza Chief Executive Ryan Campbell added his thanks, tweeting: “James Jordan, you’re our hero! Thank you on behalf of everyone at Demelza for choosing us as your charity and for being brilliant at Catchphrase. Who would have known!”

Demelza is a special charity that is close to James’ heart and the money he won could pay for the costs of delivering Demelza’s Care at Home service for two whole months in his home county of Kent, giving Demelza a much-needed boost after the Christmas period.

The Kent Hospice, located in Sittingbourne provides professional, specialist, one-to-one care and support and access to life-enhancing facilities for babies, children and young people up to the age of 19.

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