A ballet dancer who was forced to perform solo in a Sky One talent show after his wife fell pregnant has taken one step closer to clinching a £250,000 prize.

Daniel Jones, 38, from Raynes Park, a professional dancer with the English National Ballet, appeared as a contestant on the fourth series of Sky One’s Got to Dance on Sunday in front of judges including JLS’ Aston Merrygold, former pussycat doll Kimberly Wyatt and Ashley Banjo from dance group Diversity. 

Mr Jones moved to London when he was 11 to train at the Royal Ballet School before landing a spot with the English National Ballet in 1992 where he is currently the company’s longest serving full time member and has toured with productions across the world.

The dancer had intended to perform with his wife Kei, also a ballet dancer with the company, and had spent time practising their routine in the Prince George’s playing fields in Raynes Park where he has lived for the past 12 years.   

He said: "We got a few smiles when I was lifting my wife up but it’s generally quite quiet but it was the only place we had to rehearse."

Unfortunately Kei was forced to pull out of the show at the last minute after discovering she was pregnant.

He said: "I had to make the phone call to the show which was awful but at the same time we were over the moon that we were expecting a child.

Mr Jones continued on his own choreographing a routine in just two hours which earned him two gold stars – not quite enough to send him through.

But after a dramatic last minute change of heart judge Aston turned his red star to gold sending Mr Jones through to the shortlist.

Mr Jones said he was “overjoyed” having gotten through.

The final 30 contestants from the shortlist will be revealed during a show which will be broadcast on February 3

He said: "I have been a professional dancer for 20 years in the English National Ballet and dance has just become more and more popular and its thanks to shows like this that have raised the profile of the talent that’s out there."