Rachel de Thame wants Strictly spot

TV presenter Rachel de Thame wants to compete on Strictly Come Dancing.

The Gardeners' World star, 51, said that she had to turn down a request to appear on a previous series of the hit BBC One show because she was pregnant.

The mother-of-four told the Radio Times: "I hate things like I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, which bring out the worst in people - that bear-baiting.

"The exception is Strictly, which I adore."

Asked whether she would be tempted to join the show, the former model said: "I have been asked, but I was about to have a baby so it was very bad timing.

"But it is something that I might find very tempting, having been a dancer in another life - as a teenager I attended the Royal Ballet School."

She admitted she does dust off her dancing shoes, but added: "Only in private!"

The 11th series of the dancing competition, hosted by Sir Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly, returns to TV screens in the autumn.

Olympic gymnast Louis Smith lifted the Strictly trophy alongside partner Flavia Cacace last year.

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.