BBC Strictly Come Dancing’s Jamie Borthwick’s famous cousin – but neither of them knew

Strictly Jamie Borthwick’s job once led to an unexpected family discovery when a new actor joined EastEnders and had the same name as his uncle.

Jamie Borthwick is currently wowing the judges and viewers of Strictly Come Dancing with his stunning performances alongside professional dance partner Michelle Tsiakkas. The 30-year-old actor has been impressing fans of EastEnders though since 2016 when he first joined the BBC soap as the young teenage tearaway Jay Brown.

His character has seen many highs and lows since then, with one of his most recent and hard hitting storylines seeing him nurse his dying wife Lola as she battled a brain tumour. But back in 2018, there was a new face in Albert Square, who it turned out had a very personal connection to Jamie.

Charlie Winter was cast as Hunter Owen, the son of Melanie Owen, played by Tamzin Outhwaite. When Jamie heard the new kid on the block’s name it sparked a question in his mind because it was the same as one of his older relatives. In 2021 he recalled the moment with The Sun and said: “My great uncle is called Charlie Winter, so when they said there was a kid coming in called Charlie Winter, I was like, ‘Seriously?’ Turns out we are second cousins.”

Charlie played Hunter until 2019 when he was killed off in shocking scenes. The teen killer shot Ben Mitchell in the Queen Vic, which caused his lungs to collapse. He then took Ben’s pregnant sister Louise Mitchell hostage in front of horrified onlookers. Keanu Taylor tried to jump to the rescue, charging at Hunter who shot him. He then threw Louise to the floor and aimed the gun at her before armed police shot him dead in front of mum Mel. After leaving EastEnders Charlie pursued a career in music, with some comparing him to Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake.

Jamie meanwhile remains on EastEnders and also revealed that he once had a crush on an older female co-star. But rather than keep his feelings under wraps and admire the lovely lady from afar, he decided to make a rather embarrassing advance on her, which was very much encouraged by another naughty male cast member.

Jamie recalled the mortifying moment in a previous interview with TV Times when he revealed that he had always been totally enamoured with Emma Barton , 47, who plays the wide-eyed Honey Mitchell and who also took part in Strictly in 2019. He was just a teenager when he first laid eyes on her and her beauty blew him away. “I was about 14 when I first set eyes on Emma Barton,” he revealed: “I fell in love with her long, shapely legs and I wanted to marry her.”

It was thanks to the mischievous Perry Fenwick, who played Billy, that he decided to act on it though. “Perry told me to chat her up, and I remember walking over to her and saying, ‘Alright darlin’… wow, you smell nice.” It brought the house down and we still laugh about it now,” he said. “I love working with Emma. I won’t say what it is, but we have something in common that’s very rare and very special that brings us together. I still try and chat her up and say that one day, we’ll get married, but she’s having none of it!”