Helen Skelton teased her upcoming Strictly Come Dancing role ahead of her televised announcement as she revealed she had “ballroom” training during her time on Blue Peter.
The TV presenter, 39, is part of the star-studded line-up for the 20th series of the beloved BBC One dance competition which hit our screens last night.
After her spell-bounding performance on the legendary stage, viewers were left gobsmacked that the blonde bombshell hadn’t received professional training in the past.
READ MORE: Strictly's Matt Goss shares tragic reason for joining BBC series after family loss
Now, in an exclusive interview with Daily Star before her role on the show was announced, the Countryfile star confessed she received some “ballroom” training during her time on Blue Peter.
Speaking before her role on the TV show was announced last month, the mum-of-three revealed what it was like to work on the children’s TV show.
She said: “I left the show back in 2013, but I still have a WhatsApp [group] with all my friends from that show – I got a little parcel this morning for the baby from one of my friends from that show.
“You know when you hear people talking about Strictly saying ‘it’s a family’ – that’s what Blue Peter is.”
The TV star went on to reveal how surreal her life as a children’s presenter on Blue Peter which regularly saw her getting off to every corner of the world.
Helen continued: “The day that I got the gig I went to Alaska for six weeks so day and night you are with people in extreme situations so you make friends for life they become like family.
“It was just a joy and a privilege to be a part of, it was every kind of chaos. You'd go to India to film with people doing facial surgery with kids and then you’d fly back to interview Justin Bieber.
“I was in a wheelchair ballroom dancing competition in Malta, I was in stuff like the Amazon. It's just every day was like, ‘Am I really doing this?’.”
When asked about one of her most embarrassing moments working on the CBBC set, the TV star recalled one craft where she was tasked with making a fake dog poo out of an old yoghurt pot and newspaper which was a huge hit with viewers.
The loving mum continued: “Probably one of my favourite studio memories was when we made – I often used to argue with the editor about makes, we never used to do makes anymore, you know like the crafts – so we made a fake dog poo.
“It was a yoghurt pot with newspaper and yoghurt and glue and we made that and we were like, ‘you can hide things under here, kids’.
“So many kids wanted to make it that the website crashed and it was on the front of the newspaper, just me with a dog poo doing a cheesy grin if you can imagine the headlines.”
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But despite remaining as once of the most beloved presenters to grace the set of Blue Peter, the blonde belle revealed that her children would have to earn their own Blue Peter badge.
She added: “I've got my badges, I've got a gold one but you can’t be giving those away, [the kids have] got to earn them”.
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