The Strictly Come Dancing 2022 winner’s former school said he was a “huge inspiration” to her students.
BBC wildlife presenter Hamza Yassin, 32, who attended the private Wellingborough School in Northamptonshire from 2004 to 2008, lifted the Glitterball trophy on Saturday.
Headmaster Andrew Holman said he was a “legend” and the school was “very proud”.
Yassin previously said he “would be nowhere” without the school.
The school’s website states that upon leaving, Yassin originally studied medicine before switching to zoology, followed by studies for a master’s degree in biological photography and imaging.
One of Britain’s up and coming wildlife photographers, he appeared on BBC’s The One Show and programs such as Animal Park, Countryfile and Springwatch before being invited to host his own show on the CBeebies channel, Let’s Go For A Walk, in the Ranger Hamza takes children on hikes.
Now based in a remote part of western Scotland mainland, he traveled to Antarctica in December 2019 to film for a new season of Sir David Attenborough’s The Frozen Planet.
Yassin, who had never taken dance lessons before joining the BBC’s 14-week entertainment programme, beat Molly Rainford, Fleur East and Helen Skelton in the final, with viewers enjoying the non-dancer’s progress.
Mr Holman, who joined the school in 2018, said he spoke to some staff who had known him and said: “What you saw on TV is what he was like”.
“He was very down to earth, very round and wore his heart on his sleeve,” he said.
“He was very new to the area as his family had recently moved from Sudan but he settled in quickly and was willing to try things and get involved, which he has done at Strictly and we are very proud . “
He said the former student showed what they try to teach their students every day.
“We always say think big, think about what you can achieve and try it, you never know what’s going to happen and that’s what we’ve seen over the past three months,” he said.
“It’s about having a can-do attitude.”
The headmaster added that Hamza had been a “huge inspiration” for the school and that everyone was very excited to know that he once walked the corridors and classrooms.
“There are so many inspiring people, but to see someone here as a student who’s from where he is and has a job that he loves and different strings on the bow, that’s just wonderful,” he said.
“You couldn’t ask for a better role model.
“They say ‘You can’t be what you can’t see,’ but it’s the other way around, ‘You can be what you can see,’ and the students think ‘That could be me.’
“To learn to dance like this in just three months is a tremendous achievement and will be the subject of many Heads of School meetings.”
He added that it is now her “absolute dream” that Yassin would attend the summer school awards ceremony.
“Everyone wants a little bit of hamza right now, but we’ve been giving him lots of shout-outs on social media throughout the series and cheering him up ahead of the finale, so you never know,” he said.
Unusually, the school actually boasts two Strictly participants, as Reverend Richard Coles, who attended the school in the 1980s, competed in the 2017 dance competition.
Less successful than Hamza, the former Communard became the second celebrity to be voted out this year.
Stage schools aside, Mr. Holman thinks they’re probably the only mainstream school claiming this double, but he’s willing to be corrected.
“It’s not usually something a school celebrates, but it shows that our students have some creativity and can think outside the box,” he said.
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