I turned down Strictly multiple times – the show was like therapy, but my pelvic floor wasn’t ready, says Angela Scanlon

FOR many celebrities, appearing on Strictly Come Dancing is top of their wish list – but not Angela Scanlon.

She turned the show down numerous times, before finally accepting last year.

It wasn’t worries over the long hours or the dreaded Curse that put the Irish star off taking part – but fear of not being good enough.

“It stemmed from being too afraid to be seen as not clever or funny or smart enough. So I just said: ‘I don’t think I want to do that.’

“And with Strictly, 100% there was a real effort to change that part of me and prove to myself that, actually, I don’t need to be the best. [I realised] there are loads of things that I can get from the experience that don’t rely on me getting the Glitterball trophy.

"The idea of opting out because you assume – sometimes right, sometimes wrong – that you’re not going to be the best, it just starves you of experiences.

"And those experiences make you resilient and you might enjoy it, even though you’re s**t at it. I now try to throw myself into things.”

Angela, 40, was also inspired to take part as something purely for herself, after having her second child, Marnie, in 2022. She also has Ruby, six, with husband Roy Horgan, 43, who works in tech.

“I’m a big believer in timing,” she says. “But in hindsight, I had an 18-month-old baby and my pelvic floor, among other parts of my body, were not ready. 

I just felt it’d be nice as a mum to do something that was very much for me. It was kind of reclaiming my body. I was trying to remind myself that I was strong.”

Angela, who partnered with Carlos Gu and finished sixth, has had a complicated relationship with her body, struggling with eating disorders since her teens. By the age of 20, she was often surviving on black coffee and tinned pineapple.

“It’s the one addiction you can’t abstain from,” she says. “There are clear lines around drugs and alcohol, but with [food], you’ve got to face it three times a day and every joyful occasion is built around it. It becomes all-consuming and can suck a lot of joy out of lives.” 

Angela adds: “I want my girls to be healthy, obviously, and I try to impress that on them. It’s tricky, because I don’t remember when I was growing up and in the grip of it, having very many points of reference of people who had been there, and come through it.

“I speak about it because what you want in those moments is a sense of hope, like: ‘You can get to the other side and have a great life.’ But exercise has almost never been approached in a measured way. It was used as a tool against myself.

"Strictly was [about] getting back in touch with my body and getting strong. I feel like dancing is so freeing, particularly as someone who’s had a tricky relationship with their body, to be able to enjoy that without being self-conscious.”

Does she worry that she could relapse back into those dark days? 

“It’s very rare for me,” she says, “But I will notice it kind of pop up – it’s my nudge to recalibrate. Rather than feeling like I’m about to be swallowed again, it’s a helpful reminder.”

As well as helping her feel strong, Strictly also gave Angela a chance to feel sexy – something she struggled with as a result of her upbringing.

“As an Irish woman, I didn’t realise how complicated being sexy and being close to somebody and being overtly showy would be. We’re culturally told to not do that. It’s strongly discouraged and there’s a lot of shame attached to the female body.  

“For me to show my daughters that you can go out there and be free… It’s OK to be uncomfortable and to overcome that discomfort. Things can go wrong and people can have opinions about you, but they don’t define you. You can get up and go again. 

“Previously, I was very sensitive to people’s opinions, whereas now I couldn’t care less. Let’s be honest about it – there are people I think are wildly annoying and they probably find me annoying. We don’t need to panic over it. Move on.”

Fellow Strictly celeb Amanda Abbington dropped out, claiming she has developed PTSD as a result of her experience of being on the show, while other former contestants, including Rachel Riley, have also spoken out about how demanding it can be. But Angela found the opposite, and describes the process as like “therapy”.

“I fully threw myself into it,” she says. “I was very determined and continually reminded myself – because I am competitive – that actually, week to week, doing the training and the enjoyment of the process is what I’m here for, not the end result.”

Angela also made a stand on the show by refusing to cover her naturally pale skin with fake tan.

I love being a redhead, but I do have an issue with fake redheads, because I feel you get all the upside of being feisty but with none of the trauma on the way to it. Emma Stone is not a redhead!” she laughs

Angela Scanlon

And she feels the same about her hair colour, having been on a decade-long mission to tackle bullying around being a redhead – even making a documentary examining why they’re still discriminated against.

“My first-ever documentary was called Oi Ginger! and it was exploring gingerism as the last remaining acceptable prejudice, so I’ve been very defiant about being a redhead.