Gabby Logan reveals she was a 'nervous wreck' before Sports Personality of the Year debut

Gabby Logan says she was so nervous before hosting BBC Sports Personality of the Year for the first time last year she feared she'd fall over live on TV.

"I was standing at the top of the steps just before the show started and I was a nervous wreck," says Gabby, who'll be presenting the two-hour special with Gary Linekar and Clare Balding from Glasgow on Sunday.

"I remember Clare turning to me and saying: 'Think of all the amazing people who we've looked up to who've presented this in the past!' ...I said: 'All right Clare! Don't build it up to me any more!'

"Then I had to walk down the steps in my heels hoping that I didn't take a tumble. When I got to the bottom of the steps, that was a real relief moment, I thought 'Let's enjoy this now!'"

After the nerves of last year, Gabby says she hopes she'll be able to enjoy the ceremony a little more this time round. Golfer Rory McIlroy is hot favourite to claim the title, but F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, Real Madrid star Gareth Bale and Winter Olympic skeleton champion Lizzy Yarnold are also in contention.

But while she might be more relaxed this year, Gabby says she still struggles to last the distance at the aftershow party!

"The athletics team were putting everyone else to shame at the party last year," she says. "Many of them were up doing a full days training the next day as well, which was unbelievable!

"That was a bit embarrassing, when the like of Paula Radcliffe are waving you off to bed! It's a bit of an end of season blow-out for many of these sports men and women."

BBC Sports Personality of the Year screens on BBC1 on Sunday, December 14

Sean is a Senior Feature writer for TV Times, What's On TV and TV & Satellite Week, who also writes for whattowatch.com. He's been covering the world of TV for over 15 years and in that time he's been lucky enough to interview stars like Ian McKellen, Tom Hardy and Kate Winslet. His favourite shows are I'm Alan Partridge, The Wire, Wolf Hall and Succession and in his spare time he enjoys drinking tea, doing crosswords and watching football.