Dan Walker said BBC's Strictly began as ‘one of the worst experiences’ of his life

Dan Walker has opened up on his BBC Strictly Come Dancing experience as he candidly admitted that the opportunity didn't get off to the best start. The newsreader had been paired with two-time World Champion dancer Nadiya Bychkova when he appeared in series 19, back in 2021. Unfortunately his journey in the star-studded competition came to an end when he finished in 5th place after loosing to television presenter AJ Odudu in the dance off.

Speaking in his column for I News, Dan shared the advice he had received from BBC Radio 2 star Zoe Ball . He wrote: "I knew that being able to bounce off someone on Strictly would be the only way I could survive the show beyond a couple of weeks." He then went on to make an admission, branding it "one of the worst experiences" when he first began his Strcitly journey.



Dan wrote: "It ended up being one of the greatest televisual experiences of my life but, if I’m totally honest, it started out as one of the worst." He explained further, adding: "The producers had paired me with two-time world champion dancer Nadiya Bychkova, who moved down the tunnel with effortless grace and just the right amount of sass. "When it was my turn, I felt my mouth go instantly dry, and I could tell from the face of the camera operator that my 'Theresa May carrying a heavy rucksack whilst wearing an orthopaedic boot' act wasn’t going to cut it.

"Nadiya just smiled, assured me that it would be OK, and that this was stage one of a long process. She always produced the perfect mix of instruction, encouragement and fun to get us over the line." The Channel 5 newsreader recently made a grand return to the Strictly ballroom.

He caught up with his former professional dance partner earlier this month at the Blackpool episode of this new series. Taking to Instagram after the encounter, Dan wrote: "What a fun night back at Strictly in Blackpool with my eldest daughter. Lovely to catch up with Nadiya Bychkova for the first time in a while although I still haven’t figured how to do the finger photo.

" Dan went on to share more details about his visit to the set, adding: "You will be pleased to hear that we grabbed some food and we did get chips with that Yorkshire Barmaid. "@hadderstime & @vitocoppola produced the dance of the night for me (and I got to meet Sarah’s lovely mum) with @tashaghouri & @aljazskorjanec and @chrismccauslandcomedy & @diannebuswell just behind them. “I don’t think I will ever recover from @p_wicks01’s pink trousers and @claudiawinkle going right instead of left gives us all hope.

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