What do you think of this year's line up? Is there anyone that you think is your competition?
I think it’s a brilliant line up. There are so many wonderful people.

It's hard to pick anyone out! It’s easy to say Nicola Adams, for example, as she’s clearly a serious competitor, a serious athlete and probably has some cracking footwork as well. It’s hard to see past Nicola. I just know the kind of athlete she is having covered her as a presenter and I just think she's going to take a lot of beating. I’ve said those words before in a boxing context and I’ve never been wrong!

What was the main motivation for you signing up to do the show this year?
The challenge. I live to put myself outside my comfort zone and to make sure that I'm always trying to become the best version of myself that I possibly can. The types of opportunities and things which I've had in the past, learning to scuba dive or going to Afghanistan, for example, they have been pretty extreme. But actually, they were inside my comfort zone because they were the kind of things I would do with ease. This is completely new and I plan on bringing the exact same mind set - giving it my absolute everything.

You mentioned Afghanistan - can you tell us a bit about the injuries you got there, if they might present any challenges for you on the dancefloor?

Essentially my body was battered and still is to this day really - I got smashed to pieces. When this explosion went off, I wasn't standing on top of the thing (IED). Unfortunately one of my friends was, but I was talking to him so I was close enough that all the debris just smashed my body from pretty much my knees up. So my feet should be alright!

I was very fortunate to be able to keep more or less all my body parts except for a couple of fingers, but none of the things work the way they should. But I'm hoping that there are not many better forms of exercise and activity than dancing for improving your overall body posture, your overall body fitness and mobility. I'm hoping I'll be as fit as I ever have been after this process.

Are you hoping that people will be inspired by your performances?
My job is not to go out there to inspire people, my job is to go out there and get as good at dancing as I possibly can. So that's what I'm going to do. The wonderful thing that comes with that, and that's the beautiful thing about the inclusion of someone like myself or Lauren (Steadman) or anyone in the past, is the way it's being done.

It’s that idea of, there’s somebody who is incredible and outstanding in their field and isn’t it great that it doesn't matter that he's got a disability. It doesn't matter that he's had struggles with mental health or whatever it might be. It is important that someone can turn on the TV, enjoy the dancing, and then also take something else away from it.

Who in your family is most excited?
My nephew Rory is starting a fan club with his friends at school. I believe they’re calling it ‘The JJ Cha Cha Cha Chalmers Fan Club’ which is absolutely amazing.

How would your family members rate your dancing?
My wife's pretty confident in my ability, actually. She’s probably more confident than I am and she seems to think I've got rhythm. We do a lot of dancing around the kitchen! I don't know if the rest of my family can look past the idea of the hilarity of it all to take it seriously - I think they're going to make their judgments on week one

Do you have a particular dance you’re most looking forward to?
Probably the waltz. When I was in Afghanistan, I was learning how to dance for my brother's wedding. I was meant to come back midway through my tour and go to my brother's wedding and I wanted to surprise my girlfriend, now wife, that I could actually learn to waltz. One of the guys in my checkpoint in Afghanistan had been a semi-professional dancer before he joined the Marines. So we started doing the waltz and then both of us got blown up unfortunately, in the same incident. That was the one dance he had begun to teach me so it feels like a good place to start.

How do you feel about the glamorous side of Strictly?
You can’t stand on the sidelines and feel self-conscious in this, because then you're missing the point. You’ve got to fully embrace it.

Have you had any tips from anyone that has competed on the show before?
I'm really fortunate because of the breadth of programming that work on that lots of my friends have done it - Alex Jones, Anita Rani, Ore Oduba. The advice they've all given me is essentially, “Hold on for dear life”, because it's just wonderful madness, hard work, and all those things.