Krishnan Guru-Murthy has said that his biggest worry for Strictly Come Dancing is that he is overweight and has “got loads of things wrong with him”.
The Channel 4 News presenter, 53, is one of 15 contestants who are set to take to the dancefloor when the hit BBC show returns to screens on Saturday.
Broadcaster Guru-Murthy, who has fronted worldwide events including the Omagh bombing of 1998 and 9/11, was the fourth celebrity announced for the upcoming series.
Speaking on the challenges he is set to face on the dance competition, he said: “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.”
Discussing how he has prepared for the show he added: “I have done 10 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 11 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.”
Guru-Murthy had previously turned down offers to appear on Strictly Come Dancing, but admitted that “something changed this year”.
“I have been asked to do Strictly before and it has always been a pretty hard no”, he said.
“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.
“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.”
Among those included in this year’s line-up of 15 celebrity competitors are comedian and former Family Fortunes presenter Les Dennis, EastEnders actor Bobby Brazier, broadcaster Angela Rippon and reality star Zara McDermott.
The 21st series of the dancing competition will kick off on September 16 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 6.35pm.