Laura Whitmore was forced to quit ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! NOW!’ in order to do ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
The 31-year-old presenter has been asked to take part in the BBC One Ballroom and Latin show for many years but she was forced to turn them down because it clashed with the spin-off show, but she finally bit the bullet earlier this year and decided to turn her back on the jungle-based programme, following four years at the helm, in favour of the dance floor.
Speaking to the Mirror Online, she said: "It was such a big step. I’ll be honest with you, I had been asked to do this show for a long time, but I just couldn’t do it. They’d ask me… and I couldn’t do it. Then they’d ask me again… and I couldn’t do it. Then I became afraid because I really wanted to do the show but I knew that eventually it would get to the stage where they would be like ‘No, I’m sorry, we don’t want you anymore.’
"It was hard [to walk away from ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’] because it is such a great show to work on. But I am so excited about ‘Strictly…’ I can’t even tell you!"
The blonde beauty has been partnered with professional dancer Giovanni Pernice for the show but their pairing has already been the hot topic of conversation as he’s just split from his girlfriend Georgia May Foote.
And Laura has made no secret of the fact she’d like to find love on the programme this year.
She said at the time: "I did laugh when they were talking about your dance partner. I was like, ‘Is it dance partner or is it a future husband?’ Friends who have been on the show told me you make best friends for life. They said you do become close as your dance partner is such a big figure to you and you rely on them so much. So it’s not actually romantic. Then again, the show has made a lot of couples. How many relationships have come out of it? Quite a few."