Natasha's big break

Natasha Kaplinsky says she was bullied into doing Strictly Come Dancing by a mysterious BBC grand fromage. "I was desperate not to do Strictly but I'd just joined the BBC and I was the nearest and weakest victim," she tells Glamour magazine. "I said no and then got taken into a dark corner and told, 'I'm sure not doing it won't penalise your career', which was said in such a away that meant if I didn't do it, I was history." She didn't want to do it so much that she even tried breaking her ankle, presumably inspired by that scene in Escape to Victory where the goalkeeper has his arm broken. "The thought of the humiliation was just too much... then the show became a success."