Krishnan Guru-Murthy unwittingly prepared for his Strictly Come Dancing when he went on a huge health kick earlier this year and lost a significant amount of weight.
The Channel 4 journalist, 53, said it felt like the right time to agree to competing in the BBC dance competition ahead of the first live shows this weekend, but admitted he doesn't see himself as "a fit person" and worries if he will actually be physically able to take on the challenge.
As one of the 15 celebrities learning some new moves for the 21st season of Strictly, Krishnan is partnered with professional dancer Lauren Oakley for his stint on the show - and the pair will take to the dancefloor for their debut performance this weekend following the launch show last week.
Speaking ahead of the competition beginning, Krishnan admitted he hadn't really been gearing up for the challenge ahead too strenuously. "To say preparing would be a massive overstatement of the truth," he admitted when quizzed about how he'd been preparing before his first dance.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy is ready to strut his stuff (BBC/Ray Burmiston)
The Channel 4 star has lost some weight over recent months (Getty Images)"I have done ten days of Pilates. I have lost a lot of weight earlier this year, I went on this massive health kick in April/May and I lost about eleven kilos and so I am sure that under normal circumstances I would have put most of it back on. But, I have tried very hard to keep that weight off, so that is probably the extent of my training which was quite hard when you have been on holiday."
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The popular broadcaster went on to add: "Everything about it is a big challenge. The biggest thing I am scared of, is physically not being able to do this. I am not a fit person and I have never exercised really. I am overweight and I have got loads of things wrong me, so that’s been my biggest worry about whether I can actually physically do it. Then of course, there is the basic question of, can I dance? and I don’t know the answer to that, I will find out!"
As one of the nation's most recognisable faces from TV, Krishnan had been approached by Strictly bosses multiple times over the years before finally signing up for this year's series, but the Channel 4 star always turned the offer down. "Something changed this year," he explained when asked why he finally agreed to take to the dancefloor.
"I have been asked to do Strictly before and it has always been a pretty hard no. But this year I think its maybe a combination of post pandemic, the time of my life, knowing lots of people have been going through tough times. I just thought you only live once and this is going to be amazing fun.
Krishnan with his Strictly dance partner Lauren (BBC/Ray Burmiston)
Krishnan and wife Lisa in 2016 (Rex)"Why deprive yourself from that amount of joy in your life when you don’t need to? It's going to be tough, fitting it all in and I had about three conversations with people I trust about whether I should do it or not, and they all instantly said yes, so now is the time to do it, it just felt right."
He went on to add: "I think the moment I took notice of Strictly again and thought maybe I could do it one day was when Ed Balls did it. I thought the way he handled it was just brilliant because my initial reaction when I heard that Ed was doing it was, that’s going to be awful. He was such a triumph and it was such a personal triumph for him and it transformed his life.
"Then I thought, that’s incredible and I certainly took notice then. If I have a Strictly hero its Bill Bailey and I don’t know him personally, but he was someone I never expected to see on Strictly and I was not expecting him to be good and he was so good. So, I think those two were my two standouts."
While Krishnan is best know to TV viewers as a newsreader, reporting on stories in traditional suits, the journalist will show fans a new side to himself during his Strictly stint thanks to getting a glitzy makeover ahead of the competition and swapping standard ties for show stopping ensembles.
"I worry that there is not a lot to work with," Krishnan confessed when asked how he feels about being Strictly-fied. "I think I have changed my mind about being Strictly-fied, I think when I first thought about Strictly it was, ‘well you are not going to wear any of that ridiculous stuff!’ and ‘you can’t do glittery and you can’t do sequins and you have got to maintain some dignity’.
"But the more I think about it, the more I think you just have to place your trust in Strictly and the process. If you are going to entertain then you have got to do everything that is involved, and that involves costume. So being Strictly-fied is not really about changing Krishnan Guru Murthy, it's about me getting into character."
As a new batch of celebrity contestants are announced each year ahead of the latest Strictly series, accusations some of the stars taking part have an unfair advantage against their rivals thanks to previous "dance experience". However, that's not something journalist Krishnan has had to worry about.
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"I used to be the twenty-something who would dance at night clubs and at parties. I think that kind of stopped in my thirties," he mused before the competition began. "So, I have no dance experience really. My sister reminded me the other day, that I think when I was about five, I went into the back of her ballet class, and I probably took part in some way, but that’s it."
Krishnan is certainly entering the competition for the experience, with no grand plan to fox trot his way to the final. He admitted earlier this month: "I don’t think of this as a competitive process for me really, so, I don’t really think of the others like that. I don’t think of myself as competing with them as a thing.
"I look at Layton and Bobby and their physical ability and youth, you just kind of think they are incredible and that they are going to be brilliant. I think they are going to be fantastic competitors and they are both really likeable. I think if you are doing Strictly, of course you dream of winning the trophy. I will do absolutely everything I can to do as well as I possibly can, but I also live in the real world."
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