Mel Giedroyc says it took her “one second” to sign up for Strictly Come Dancing’s Christmas special.
Mel will partner with professional Neil Jones on this year’s festive one-off.
The TV presenter said of taking part: “It is all my Christmases come at once! Christmas – favourite time of year, Strictly – favourite show, put them together, I can’t believe I am here to be honest!
“It is very life affirming, without wanting to sound too cheesy, to be able to do this, and to know we will hopefully be entertaining people and giving people some Christmas cheer.”
She added: “It took me about one second to decide, not even that. My agent asked if I wanted to take part in the ‘Strictly Come Dancing Chris…’ and at that moment I jumped up and said yes, absolutely.”
The pair will be dancing a Couple’s Choice commercial dance routine to ‘Ice Ice Baby’.
“It’s such a great song, I might change my ringtone to it,” Mel said.
On training with Neil, she continued: “What a laugh, from day one! I was really scared on day one, we hadn’t really met before then other than a brief encounter where we briefly passed each other in the corridor at an awards ceremony.
“So he sat me down and showed me the routine, which went on for a very long time, and in my head I was panicking, I thought I need to phone my agent!”
Neil added: “On day one, she went for a stress nap for an hour and a half! She had her blanket with her and everything. There is a hell of a lot of steps in it, and you manage it and make it look good.”
As for getting ‘Strictly-fied’, Mel enthused: “I can’t get enough of it, I have just heard they are going to put lights in my hair, as far as I am concerned, too much is not enough. Let’s hope I don’t get electrified.”
And on wanting to impress the judges, Mel said: “I love them all. I’d love for Anton to say ‘you old sausage!’, if Motsi was to stand up, I think I would faint.
“If Craig was to say a whole load of critique and then say ‘but’, I’ll be happy. From Shirley I want a maternal glow and moisture in the eyes.”
Strictly Come Dancing’s Christmas special airs Christmas Day on BBC One at 5:10PM.
