Helen Skelton has laughed off claims her past dance experience give her an advantage as she prepared to take part in Strictly Come Dancing. The Countryfile host is among the 15 celebrities who have signed up for the BBC One dance contest's 2022 series which starts next Sunday (September 17).
She joins the likes of Corrie stars Kym Marsh and Will Mellor, EastEnders actor James Bye, 80s singing icon Matt Goss and Paralympic champion Ellie Simmonds in the line-up for the hit show. Last month, Helen said that she 'can't dance' despite it being revealed Helen won a dance competition when she was a teenager.
In an interview in 2016, Helen was asked in an interview to reveal a secret about herself. She told The Sun on Sunday: “I won a Ken Dodd tap-dance award when I was 17. Not a lot of people know this, but I’m very good at tap dancing. People are often amazed I can tap dance."
But speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, the presenter said: "People keep saying, 'Can you dance?' And I say, ‘No’ because isn’t it the point to learn to dance?" And Helen has now addressed the speculation around her dancing ability again as she appeared on ITV's Lorraine.
The 39-year-old joined Lorraine Kelly live on Wednesday's edition of her self-titled show (September 7) as she helped launch a new campaign. Helen has teamed up with ITV's Dr Amir Khan for new series Me Time which is set to show why just 20 minutes of time to yourself a day will work wonders for your well-being.
However, Helen couldn't be on the programme without mention of Strictly. When Lorraine, 61, brought up her past dance experience after it hit the headlines, asking if her tap dancing past would help her at all as she vies for the Glitterball trophy.
But the mum-of-three said on the daytime TV show: "I found it so funny when they said it, 'It's a fix, Helen's a tap dancing champion!' When I was seven... yes, I did tap dancing." As Lorraine laughed, the presenter pointed out that tap dancing isn't a part of the popular dance show.
"You never know," Helen laughed as she held up her fingers crossed. "If there is, that's my week. Like lots of little girls and boys, I did do dancing, absolutely loved it. But I got to an age where I didn't want to wear a leotard in public and I gave it up."
She admitted that she 'wished she hadn't' but now appears more than willing to don whatever outfit the Strictly costume department throws at her. Helen also went on to speak about the show in general, saying: "When they asked me I said, 'There's too much going on,' but my friends made a great point. 'The bigger your children, the bigger the problem.'"
"My friends were like 'you have to it' and for goodness sake, who gets to go to work, put on an amazing dress and get their make-up done? And it sounds silly, but even getting your lunch." Sharing other reasons why she signed up, Helen added: "For me, I love the challenge and the learning and technically it is work and it's really nice to work on a programme my mum and dad want to watch, they are so excited."
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