Anthea Turner shows she’s still a hit with the guys in her new show.
The 61-year-old star appears in The Real Dirty Dancing, featuring 10 celebs competing in challenges based on the iconic 1987 Patrick Swayze film.
Despite being the only one old enough to see the hit when it first came out, Anthea was the centre of attention.
And the TV presenter formed a close bond with James “Arg” Argent, 34, who found fame on The Only Way Is Essex.
“Arg and I did form a particularly good partnership,” she says. “He’s absolutely lovable, we giggled a lot.”
She helped him overcome his fear of heights when they did a bungee jump tied together.
And she boosted his confidence in what is his first prime-time show since losing 13 stone after a gastric band op.
“A few months ago he couldn’t tie his own shoelaces and now he’s much fitter and healthier,” Anthea says.
“He talked very openly about his gastric band and how he has had to take control of his life from that point of view.
“I’m very proud of him, proud to know him and to know how he managed to do that.”
Other contestants include Blue singer Lee Ryan, 38, celebrity quizzer Bobby Seagull, 38, and comic Darren Harriott, 33 – who all wanted to pair up with Anthea.
But the ex-Blue Peter star – the oldest contestant – has never let her age hold her back, having already appeared in The Jump and SAS Who Dares Wins.
“You think, ‘Well, I’m here with all these people I could have given birth to. Am I going to fit in? Are they going to think, ‘What’s she doing here?”
“But it was quite a revelation. The elixir of youth, I often say, is not in a pot of cream – it’s in your experiences in life.
“When you are put into a situation with a lot of people who are a lot younger than you, you learn.”
And she’s hoping people her age watching at home can learn something from it too.
“As we get older there can be a tendency to get a bit fearful. But we are at the time, probably in your late 50s, your 60s, where you haven’t got children and there’s lots of things that you have the time to do.
“I am truly grateful to my industry that I can still do things like this. It sounds really cheesy coming out my mouth but your 60s can be the time of your life if you just have fun!”
The show, hosted by Pussycat Doll Ashley Roberts and comic Keith Lemon, starts on Monday next week.
A source added: “Anthea was quite the hit with the guys. They all went out of their way to be paired with her. It became a competition between them... a running joke that everyone went out of their way to impress her.
“Ashley Roberts said she understood why Anthea was getting so much attention and described her as a ‘hot little thing’ and the head choreographer was impressed with how flexible she was. Turns out years of pilates hel ps with that!”
- The Real Dirty Dancing starts on February 21 at 9pm on E4 and All4.
