Gemma Atkinson nearly turned down ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ because of stage fright.
The 32-year-old actress has revealed despite growing up on screen, the fear of being live on television on the BBC One ballroom and Latin dance competition originally put her off joining the show.
She spilled: "I didn’t say yes straight away. In fact I almost turned it down.
"I was worried about "Strictly’ throwing me back into the spotlight and I was scared of performing live on TV each week in front of 12 million people.
"I’ve been in huge shows like ‘Emmerdale’, ‘Causality’ and ‘Hollyoaks’ but I’m used to pre-recording everything."
It will be the first time the blonde beauty has done live recordings in more than a decade after she gave up theatre due to her crippling anxiety.
She told the Daily Star newspaper: "I actually stopped doing live theatre about 10 years ago because It is so nerve-racking, but I’ll have to get over that."
Gemma says she would have been foolish to say no as she would have regretted it.
She added: "After two weeks they chased my agent for an answer.
"My mum told me It was such an amazing opportunity and I would be silly to turn it down.
"I always think it’s better to do something and it go wrong than regret not doing something and never knowing, so I said yes."
Meanwhile, the fitness fanatic is under no illusion that her impressive body will give her an advantage over lifting the glitterball trophy against the likes of Ruth Langsford, Aston Merrygold, Brian Conley and Debbie McGee.
She said: "I’d like to think I’m fit enough to do it but I don’t have any dance experience at all so that’s not going to be enough to get me through."
Gemma Atkinson almost turned down Strictly Come Dancing over nerves
