With Strictly Come Dancing only a few weeks away, fans are getting privy to more secrets surrounding the auditioning process as radio presenter Sara Cox, who was among the potential hosts, shared details about the "fun pandemonium" they went through.
On yesterday's BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, Cox chatted to newly appointed Strictly presenter Emma Willis, who shares hosting duties with comedian Josh Widdicombe and pro dancer Johannes Radebe.
"Can we talk about the fun pandemonium of those secret auditions?" Cox began as she went on to mention being picked up by a cab and not being told the destination.
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"The car turning up to pick you up and not saying where it's taking you, which was weird as a control freak," Cox said as Willis confirmed: "It was the most cloak-and-dagger thing I've ever been a part of."
"They wouldn't tell us who we were screen testing with, would they?" Willis continued as she revealed that the BBC had made up a fake show title so that the cab company wouldn't know they were driving presenters to Strictly auditions.
"They wouldn't tell us where we were going. They made up a fake TV show for the cab company so that nobody would get suspicious," Willis explained.
"So the cab company didn't leak anything and it was something like, Britain's Lovely Gardens," Cox added. "That's the show we were all going on auditioning for."
Willis said that the studio they ended up test screening at "looked like if Blue Peter had been in to do Strictly".
"It looked a bit like the first series of Strictly if you look at clips of that. I mean, it was literally like a wallpapering table and some judges sat there," Cox added.
Despite being "so nervous", Willis said that the producers put her "straight at ease".
The presenter and her two co-hosts Widdicombe and Radebe still have first-night jitters to overcome for the launch show. The trio have recently been pictured during dance rehearsals as Willis confirmed on The One Show that they've been spending "a lot of time together" over the last few weeks.
Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer in September.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
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