Strictly Come Dancing's Janette Manrara has opened up about her "bittersweet" switch over to It Takes Two.
The Cuban-American move-buster performed as a professional on the ballroom series for eight years in total, but in 2021, she left to present the aforementioned spin-off.
"A dancer's career is so short. You can only dance at a top level for a certain amount of time. So ever since I got onto Strictly Come Dancing, I've always been thinking about what's next," she recently told HELLO!
"I've always loved entertaining and making people smile, and I do like interviewing people and sharing their stories. So the change to go into presenting, I think, was a very slow, long process. It just seems like it happened overnight but for me, it's been something I've been thinking about for a really, really long time.
Related: It Takes Two presenter Janette Manrara rules out return to Strictly Come Dancing
"When Zoe Ball decided to step down from It Takes Two, the team there knew how much I wanted to go into presenting," Manrara continued.
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"Voila, the opportunity came, and I had to take it!"
It wasn't an emotionless transition, though, as the dancer went on to add: "I think the hardest part was saying goodbye to dancing on Strictly, because I'm not going to stop dancing, but I'm not going to be dancing on Strictly anymore and it was such a huge part of my life and such a big career move for me when I did get onto Strictly as a dancer.
Related: Strictly Come Dancing's Janette Manrara makes dancefloor comeback during 2021 final
"It wasn't a hard decision and it wasn't a scary decision. It was more bittersweet because I was so excited to move into that part of my life, but also so sad to say goodbye to dancing on Strictly."
Fellow Strictly pro Karen Hauer was particularly pleased for Manrara at the time, telling The Mirror: "This is something she's always wanted to do and she's always spoken about it.
"We will support her, it goes back to the campaign and women supporting women and she's one of those beautiful women who's always there supporting us, so we'll be right behind her."
Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One, while spin-off show Strictly: It Takes Two airs on BBC Two.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.
In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.
