STOURBRIDGE’S award-winning salsa gran says she’s backing Black Country X Factor candidate Wagner for “standing up for the older generation”.

Paddy Jones, who has been named the oldest salsa dancer in the world in this year’s Guinness Book of Records after she won Spanish TV talent show Tu Si Que Vales, told the News this week: “I support him for his courage - you’ve got to have a lot of courage to do this sort of thing.

“I’ve had such support locally so it’s good that people are supporting Wagner in the same way. It’s having the backing of the public that’s half the battle. Judges can vote but when it comes down to the nitty gritty it’s up to the public.

“It’s nice that somebody from the area is doing well. He’s quite extraordinary and he’s a lot like me - standing up for the older generation.”

Seventy-six-year-old Paddy, who has spent five months of this year dancing on Argentina’s version of Strictly Come Dancing Showmatch, said she thinks Pensnett singer Wagner Fiuza-Carrilho embodies "what you need on TV - entertainment".

She added: "It’s about character, which I suppose is what kept me in Showmatch for so long.”

Paddy, who used to run Paddy’s Fabrics in Victoria Passage before moving to Spain, was finally voted off the popular South American show in September while taking a break to return home. Her dance partner Nicko Espinosa, 35 years her junior, had to dance with a stand-in female dancer and the couple were voted off in Paddy’s absence.