'Fit and fabulous' Jess Rowe steals The Real Dirty Dancing spotlight

While most of Australia tuned into The Masked Singer last night, over on Channel Seven nostalgic dance show The Real Dirty Dancing kicked off to lacklustre numbers but impressed those who did tune in with one star’s return to the screen after a brief hiatus.

Jessica Rowe’s stepped on screen after 18 months away, debuting an incredibly fit look that had audiences gobsmacked.

The show follows eight Aussie celebrities as they trace the footsteps, and dance moves, of the 1987 cult hit and it was the journalist and media personality who stole the show last night.

The mum of two wowed fans first with her moves, and then with her impressive abs which didn’t escape the attention of viewers online.

“Oh Jess, you look so fit and fabulous,” one fan shared via her Instagram

“Jessica Rowe! Looking amazing on new show,” another wrote. “I don’t know how you have kids and still looking that good.”

“Absolutely amazing! You are such an inspiration to me!” another shared.

Not even Jess’s co-stars held back in heaping praise on the journalist.

Landscaping host and House Rules judge Jamie Durie admitted he had harboured a secret crush on Jess years back in her single days.

He told the group he ‘definitely would have put his hand up’ to take part in a kissing competition Jess admitted to competing in with her friends years back.

“Jess and I have known each other for a long time, and we are good mates, sorry Pete,” he clarified.

Jess is of course married to Channel Nine presenter Peter Overton.

Bringing ‘the sexy’ back

The Order of Australia member told TV Week ahead of the show’s debut, that ironically enough it was the ‘sexy’ element of Dirty dancing that she struggled with the most.

“Let's face it, you don't often feel very sexy,” she said of being a full-time mum since her departure from Studio Ten over a year ago.

“A lot of life isn't sexy... the grind of daily life. For me, it was confronting and, at times, excruciating."

"I was very proud of myself at the end,” she told the magazine. “I just went for it and thought if I do it, I may as well go down in flames in the sense that I won't do it half-heartedly. You need to put it all out there, and I reckon I did that."

The show is hitting screens on the tenth anniversary of central actor Patrick Swayze’s tragic death.

The actor passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer in 2009, and the show is aiming to raise awareness for the illness.

The celebrity hopefuls are competing to perform the famous roles back in Sydney, and with the ladies yet to show off their full dance routines, we’ll have to wait and see if Jess can walk the walk as well as she talks the talk.

The Real Dirty Dancing airs Monday and Tuesday 7:30pm on Seven.

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