Comedian Ellie Taylor has revealed that her children regard her new role presenting on Strictly Come Dancing spin-off It Takes Two as a "great annoyance".
The 42-year-old was announced last month as the new host of the weekday magazine show, taking over the helm of the refreshed format following the departures of Janette Manrara and Fleur East.
Yet the presenter has admitted that her eight-year-old daughter and two-year-old son remain thoroughly unimpressed by the career milestone, acknowledging to the Press Association and other media that her young family were simply left "annoyed" by the news.
"I think children are beautifully humbling. They don’t give a monkey because all they know is the mummy won’t be there for bedtime," she said.
"So, they view it as a great annoyance that Mummy has a dream job. They don’t care. They just want me to read The Gruffalo. I need to try and sort of get them into get them into Strictly."
Taylor, who participated as a contestant alongside fellow new presenter Johannes Radebe back in 2022, noted her daughter was "quite into it" during her original stint on the dancefloor.
"I need to properly make them buy into it, but my daughter is weirdly into the scores. My little one is not even three yet so he doesn’t have a clue," she said.
"But he loves a sequin," she said. "He loves an accessory, so maybe this is the show for him. And hopefully I can get my daughter to come to a recording of It Takes Two at some point. So, she’ll like that because she might get to go and see my hair and makeup ladies, and she’ll get a bit of eyeshadow, and then she’ll be well into that."
Describing the moment she learned she had landed the position, Taylor confessed to letting out a small squeal before breaking the news to her husband.
"My husband was downstairs, and I sort of badly cha-cha’d into the kitchen, going da da da da da doing the Strictly theme tune. So just a subtle little announcement. I was delighted, and still am. I keep waking up in the middle of the night, being like, ‘Oh my God, I got the dream job! I can’t believe it! I cannot wait to start! And I’m absolutely thrilled," she said.
Manrara, who joined the spin-off in 2021, confirmed in June that she was "no longer a part" of the production. While East has kept quiet on her exit, Taylor reached out to her directly.
She said: "I did Strictly with Fleur, and when I found out I got It Takes Two, I messaged her and said I hoped I could do half as good a job as she had."
"She wrote a lovely message back and was really supportive. When you look back at the previous hosts of It Takes Two, I feel so lucky to be part of this lineage of brilliant presenters. I really hope I can bring what they did to the show."
Addressing the expectations of taking over, she added: "I don’t suppose I feel any more pressure than I would with any job. You just want to do any job that you get to the best of your ability, I’m going to go in with probably too much enthusiasm, if anything. So I feel sorry for the production staff who have to manage sort of a Labrador level of energy."
Commenting on her former professional partner stepping into a main presenting role this series, Taylor said it was "wonderful how things transpire" and declared herself "chuffed" for Radebe.
While It Takes Two will introduce updates this term to ensure it feels "fresh", the team intends for it to remain a "conduit" for fans to explore their enthusiasm for Strictly.
Following major shifts across both broadcasts after the departures of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, Taylor insisted the core identity of the flagship series and its companion piece remains untouched.
"The dancing will always be the absolute centre of it. Strictly is still going to be Strictly, and It Takes Two will be a lovely little companion show which discusses that – that’s not going to change," she said.
"But I hope all the bits around it people will think are just lovely welcome new little ways to learn more about Strictly and to do deep dives and to maybe see different aspects of Strictly or different aspects of the amazing production on a Saturday night that people haven’t seen.
"I’m really hoping that people embrace and just love the show as much as ever. Even though the faces might be a little bit different, I think I’ve got a lot of hope that it’s going to be a brilliant series for everybody."
