Former Loose Women star Andrea McLean has revealed that she was a Strictly Come Dancing reserve one year, and is thankful that she never had to step up to the plate.
Strictly has reserve celebrities on standby each year in case one of the stars has to drop out. Most famously, in 2019, Emmerdale star Kelvin Fletcher stepped in to replace Made In Chelsea's Jamie Laing after he injured himself just days before the launch show, and ended up winning the entire thing.
But, unlike Fletcher, McLean insists she would not have been any good on the popular Saturday night show.
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"Many years ago, I was actually a reserve and I was so relieved when I didn’t get called up because I got a glimpse into what it's like," she told Metro.
"And I just said, 'This is too scary' and actually I was really happy that I didn’t have to do it.
"So I had a little taste and it was great. And now I never, ever want to try it.
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McLean, who quit Loose Women after 13 years in 2020, added: "I don’t want to say [who my professional partner was] because it will spoil it – because we did a routine and everything, and he was super nice. Really, really nice. I was relieved and I think he was relieved because I looked nice in the dress, and that was as far as it went!
"And then I moved and everything… I just knew that if I actually ended up on the show, everyone would do that, 'Ah! Ohhhhh…' and it wouldn’t be good."
Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturday and Sunday nights on BBC One. Loose Women airs weekdays on ITV.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
