Presenter Mel Giedroyc said she turned down an offer to do Strictly Come Dancing because being on the show herself would have ruined it for her.

The former Great British Bake Off co-host – a huge fan of the BBC show – also suggested that now is not the right time for her to try her luck on the dancefloor.

Mel, 48, told Radio Times magazine: “I was asked and I said no.

“l love watching it so much I almost didn’t want to spoil the pleasure by being on it.”

Mel Giedroyc will co-host Let It Shine
Mel Giedroyc (BBC)

She continued: “And it’s tricky for a woman moving into middle age.

“You’re not the comedy old bag yet, which would be the joy of going on Strictly.”

Mel said if she did sign up for the programme, she would “want to be Ann Widdecombe” – who appeared on the series in 2010.

“I’d want to be out there getting the laughs, being dragged around,” she said.

The presenter, who is now co-hosting BBC reality series Let It Shine alongside Graham Norton, said the sparkle of the dancefloor provided a welcome escape for her in the aftermath of Bake Off being sold to Channel 4.

Mel Giedroyc (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Mel Giedroyc (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

“Last year Strictly was a lifeline for me – an escape into the sequins and feathers and nonsense…” she said.

Giedroyc said it was “a pretty weird time”, with the press camped out on her doorstep.

She said: “My eldest daughter actually saw a few of them off, which I was very, very proud of.

“I’m not the kind of person who would court that sort of attention.

“I have a very private existence and I had to slightly clench my buttocks during that.”

The Radio Times is on sale on Tuesday.