Our excitement for the upcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing is at an all-time high after the 15 celebrity contestants competing for the Glitterball trophy were revealed last month.
Among them is Loose Women legend Kaye Adams, X Factor runner-up Fleur East and not one, not two, but THREE soap stars in the form of EastEnders’ James Bye, OG Hollyoaks star Will Mellor and Coronation Street queen Kym Marsh.
Closer recently caught up with the Strictly class of 2022 ahead of the series premiere and while many of the celebs told us they’d be appearing on the BBC One show for the past few months, one contestant let slip that they had only signed up fairly recently.
TV presenter Helen Skelton, who rose to fame on Blue Peter back in 2008, revealed that her appearance on Strictly was all very “last minute”.
She said, “I was really last minute. I think the papers knew before I did!”
As for why she’s decided to take part in the show now, Helen told us, “I just wanted to do it because it's fun. Everything about the show is fun, like everyone's in a good mood, everyone's positive, everyone's joyous.
“It's just a really fun thing to be part of and I think when people are smiling and laughing, it's infectious. Everyone’s nice, everyone’s having a good time and already you feel it, even one day in.”
Helen also opened up about a potential rivalry with her Countryfile colleague Hamza Yassin, who is also taking part in Strictly, but it seems they’re not taking things too seriously.
She said, “I don’t think anyone feels the competition.
“You never believe that until you’re in it. When you watch it, you’re like ‘They don’t like each other that much’ and then you’re like, ‘Oh, they do. They do.”
Strictly Come Dancing starts on Friday 23 September at 7pm on BBC One before the first live show on Saturday 24 September.