Jeremy Vine: 'How could I say no to Strictly Come Dancing?'

(Image credit: BBC)

Journalist and radio and TV presenter Jeremy Vine is the first celebrity contestant to be confirmed for the new series of BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing, which returns in September.

Jeremy, 50, confirmed the news on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 today.

Jeremy told Chris: “How could I say no to the biggest show in TV? Yes, yes, yes and yes again to the sequins and the Samba! Now I just need to find some dancing shoes and identify my left foot. I am doing it for my two young daughters who jumped behind the sofa when I told them! It seems Dad on Strictly is more scary than Doctor Who!”

Jeremy, whose brother is the comedian Tim Vine, is the host of his self-titled BBC Radio 2 programme, which presents news, views and interviews with live guests and popular music every weekday. Jeremy also presents BBC One's Points of View on Sundays, as well as the quiz show Eggheads on BBC Two.

Jeremy has also been one of the presenters for the BBC’s election coverage since 2006, including overseeing the famous Swingometer. Jeremy was also named Speech Broadcaster of the Year at the Sony Awards in 2005 and 2011.

The new series of Strictly Come Dancing will be the 13th.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.