Laura Whitmore has admitted that performing on Strictly Come Dancing was “quite the eye-opener.”
The Bray native is best known as a presenter for MTV and on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! – but this year she swapped the jungle for the ballroom.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been four months since we all stepped into the training rooms in Roehampton for our first group rehearsal. Four months of what felt like a real rollercoaster,” she said.
Strictly: Laura performed on the show with dance partner Giovanni Pernice | BBC
The 31-year-old revealed that she was happy that fellow presenter Ore Oduba and dancer Joanne Clifton won – and it wasn’t so bad she was knocked off the show facing them in the dance-off.
“Having worked as a presenter on live telly, living it from a different perspective has been quite the eye-opener – the emotions, the physical exhaustion, the injuries but the most important thing, the friendships,” she wrote in her Strictly Glamour blog.
“Ore and the gorgeous Jo were crowned winners and I couldn’t have been happier if it was myself.
“I do feel slightly better that when I left the show it was after a dance off with Ore so if you’re going to be knocked out, it may as well be by the winner.
“The night I left the show when we were hugging on that much loved dance floor, I whispered, ‘you better win!'”
Farewell: The presenter gushed about Len, who leaves Strictly this season as a judge | BBC
Laura also opened up about how much she’ll miss Len Goodman on the show, who announced that this season was his last.
“If the night wasn’t emotional enough, we had to say goodbye to Len.
“I’ve grown up watching Len. He holds such presence in any room he walks in to.
“And Strictly without Len is like a cup of tea without the tea bag! I think Len would appreciate that. As he says he is a cup of tea in a world of skinny lattes. Thankfully I’m a cup of tea kinda gal!
“No doubt he’ll be popping back on our screens again,” she added.
