Ashley Banjo 'intimidated' by Kimberly Wyatt

Ashley Banjo has admitted he felt ''intimidated'' when he first started working alongside former Pussycat Dolls singer Kimberly Wyatt on the judging panel of Sky1's 'Got To Dance'.

Ashley Banjo felt "intimidated" by Kimberly Wyatt.

The 22-year-old dancer - who shot to fame when his troupe Diversity won 'Britain's Got Talent' in 2009 - admitted working alongside the former Pussycat Dolls singer on Sky1 talent series 'Got To Dance' was a nerve-wracking experience.

He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "When we went up to Edinburgh for the first auditions it was pretty scary - I was like, 'Wow, I'm actually behind the panel!'

"It was also a little intimidating at first because, you know - she's Kimberly, she was a Pussycat Doll! But she's brilliant and we get along great. Kimberly's turned out to be a really good friend."

Ashley explained the most difficult part of judging the dancing competition was rejecting talented hopefuls, but he has been able to draw on his own experiences with Diversity to help contestants deal with rejection.

He added: "I hate cutting people - I hate being that guy who says, 'No', but sometimes on the judging panel you have to be ruthless. Everyone has to prepare themselves for rejection - we had to do it so many times on 'Britain's Got Talent'.

"Contestants get so crushed about the word no that they don't realise what we're saying will actually help them in the long run, because in that moment it feels like the end of the world."