Codenames, mystery locations and outright secrecy. Emma Willis has revealed the lengths BBC bosses went to to keep the identities of its potential Strictly presenters strictly confidential.
Recalling how she was whisked away to auditions to replace dance show staples Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, Emma recalls: “Even my agent didn’t know where I was going.
“I’d say, ‘What area is the studio in at least? So I know how long it’s going to take me to get there’. They were like: ‘We don’t know.’ They told me, ‘We don’t know the address. A car will collect you and take you there.”
Even mentioning the programme’s name was out of bounds: “They made up a TV show because they wanted it to be so secret. They called it The Great Garden Glow-Up in auditions. Loads of names were thrown around – a lot of people who I think didn’t audition.”
“If anyone asks on your way what you’re doing, you’re going to the Great Garden Glow-up. It was all very secretive. It was quite fun.”
Emma 50, joined the show last month with comedian Josh Widdicombe and professional dancer Johannes Rabede. She learned she had got the Strictly host’s job in spring, while she was filming the latest series of ITV’s Cooking With the Stars.
She says: “I didn’t tell anyone. We were all sworn to secrecy. I just kept saying, ‘I’m still waiting to hear.’ That was my line. I remember when we were leaving that day and there were photographers around the studios.
“Gladiators star Harry (Aikines-Aryeetey), one of our contestants this year, was on Strictly last year and he was so good. He pulled me aside and just said: ‘I won’t ask if it is you… but I hope it is’.”
Emma has received rave reviews for her Strictly debut, while her co-hosts have come under fire from fans. Speaking on comedian Tom Allen’s weekly gardening podcast Pottering, Emma admitted stepping into the shows of former presenters Tess and Claudia was tough.
Emma says: “Strictly is really fun but it’s a beast of a show. It’s very long. I love live telly but it is a real build up. Afterwards, I feel like I’ve been out for three days on the trot. And I haven’t been anywhere other than work.”
But Emma, who also presents ITV’s The Voice, loves the thrill of live TV. She says: “There is so little live telly. I feel like I’ve been manifesting for a good few years like saying, ‘I really want to do live TV. I really wish there was some live TV’. And then the telly Gods went ‘OK…here you go. That’s terrifying.”
Emma steadies any nerves before shows with breathing exercises: “At the start of the live shows I did a little, like four breaths in, held for four seconds and then I breathed out for eight seconds
“I did that a little bit because I did get really nervous because I haven’t done live telly of that scale for a long time. So I was really nervous. After about half an hour into it though, I was like, OK. This is what it feels like. I’d forgotten this feeling.
“I guess nerves and excitement are the same feeling. It just depends how you view them. So it’s what mentality you have. The framing. It’s like, ‘Are you gonna have a positive or a terrified mindset with it?’
Emma beat a long list of hopefuls, including Zoe Ball, Sara Cox, Alison Hammond and Holly Willoughby to land the biggest presenting role in TV.
Married to Busted singer Matt Willis, 43, and living in Hertfordshire with their children Isabelle, 17, Ace, 14, and Trixie, 10, Emma credits her family with keeping her grounded.
She says: “I am into my gardening now and want to grow some veg. But I have to say I do wear Crocs when I am outside. Sadly, Matt says they are passion killers. He said they are the best mode of contraception he’s ever seen. But I tell you what, they are comfortable.”
And a pair of Crocs was also the first thing Emma saw when she passed out while filming Emma Willis: Delivering Babies. She says: “When I did my TV show I was asked if I wanted to come into surgery and watch a post-birth repair. Suddenly, I was like, ‘I don’t feel OK’. And then they just ushered me towards the back door of the theatre. And I woke up, funnily enough, and the first thing I saw was a pair of Crocs.
“But because I’d passed out, I had to go and have full checks. So they sent me to A&E. I was so embarrassed. They took my bloods, then they took me back and they put me on an ECG. They made sure everything was alright.Then they sent me home and made a runner come home with me in case I passed out.
“I was mortified. But I tell you what, they all bloody laughed at me like ‘She passed out in there. She couldn’t handle a little bit of blood’.”
However, there was a time that Emma thought she would follow in her mum Cathy’s footsteps as a hospital nurse. Emma remembers: “It sounds weird to say that I like hospitals. I like medical things. And I did think my vocation in life would be in a hospital setting. That is what I grew up around, because my mum worked for the NHS. She was a maternity care assistant, which I trained to do.”
She thinks her collapse was related to the birth of Isabelle “I had some kind of flashback, I’d had quite a traumatic first birth. I told the nurses about it, and how I wondered if that had triggered something. And they said, ‘Did you ever have any birth reflection?’
“They said, ‘That’s when you sit down with the team and talk about your birth and what happened.’ So they did birth reflection with me. I didn’t think about my birth after I had it because I was suddenly a mum.
“They explained it in a very medical, practical way. So I had kind of all the literature and I didn’t pass out again.”
*Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC1 this Saturday at 6.15pm.
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