Len: I won't have Kath bias on DWTS

Dancing With The Stars judge Len Goodman has high hopes for Katherine Jenkins in the new series of the US show - but insists he won't be showing any bias in favour of his fellow Brit.

The Welsh mezzo-soprano is competing against stars such as soul legend Gladys Knight, singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw and tennis player Martina Navratilova for the prized glitterball trophy.

Ballroom expert Len, who also heads BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing panel, said: "I think Katherine will be good. She's a gorgeous looking girl and I've got a feeling she'll be OK at it. You never know until they do it, but my feeling is she'll be alright."

But Len admitted Katherine might be overshadowed by contestants who are better known in the US.

"That might be her stumbling block. Most of them over there I'm saying 'I've never heard of you', and they're probably saying 'I don't know who she is' but I've met her a couple of times and she's a really charming, nice girl, so I'm hoping that the Americans will warm to her," he said.

"I would like to see her do well but the people are not stupid and it would be so easy to sound like a fool if you had a bias towards anybody. I'll just say it how I see it."

The Dancing With The Stars contestants will dance their first routines with their professional partners on March 19 and March 26, with the first couple eliminated on March 27.

Meanwhile, Len revealed he'd like some crossover between Strictly and its ITV1 rival The X Factor.

"I'd like to see the X Factor judges going on Strictly and the Strictly judges go on X Factor. We'd have to sing, which would be awful, and they'd have to do dancing," he joked.