Strictly Come Dancing bosses eye C4 star who has turned them down TWICE before
STRICTLY Come Dancing bosses are keen to sign Steph McGovern for this year’s show.
They hope it will be third time lucky, as they have asked the presenter of Channel 4’s Packed Lunch twice before, only to be turned down.
If she signs up, Steph will follow in the footsteps of her Packed Lunch co-star, chef John Whaite, who caused a sensation on last year’s Strictly through his same-sex pairing with pro Johannes Radebe .
A TV insider said: “Steph has the personality and profile which makes her a perfect choice in the eyes of Strictly producers.
“They completely understood why she’s had to say no in the past. She was just establishing Packed Lunch on Channel 4 and wanted to give that her complete attention.
“But now it is a firm fixture in the schedules. It was nom-inated for a Bafta earlier this year and only last month it was announced it had been recommissioned and will run into 2023.”
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Packed Lunch is filmed in Leeds and Steph lives nearby with her partner and two-year-old daughter.
That means any pro she was partnered with could rehearse with her locally to minimise disruption.
This has happened in the past, such as when Gorka Marquez travelled to Manchester to practise with Hollyoaks star Katie McGlynn last year.
If Steph does sign up for Strictly, it would mark a return to the BBC, where she hosted the Breakfast show from 2010 to 2019 before moving to C4.
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It was on Breakfast that Steph famously showed she is light on her feet, giving an impromptu performance of Irish dancing, which she competed in as a child.
And Packed Lunch pal John also gave her footwork a ringing endorsement following his own stint on the show, finishing as runner-up.
He said: “I think Steph would be a hit with fans. She can move.”
The BBC declined to comment.
SI IN NEW TALENT SEARCH
SIMON Cowell seems to have done a U-turn on plans to spend less time at work.
I can reveal he is closing in on another huge telly project, one which will involve him travelling the length and breadth of America in the hunt for a new superstar.
The show, 50 States Of Stardom, will be a mix of music competition and docu – and he’ll be a judge.
Producer Brian Grazer, who is behind the project, said: “It is very exciting. Simon is a genius at what he does and is very smart. It is sort of like my series Friday Night Lights, where we go into little towns and you discover people and find stars.”
It follows The Sun’s story this year about Simon looking at reviving The X Factor. But I am told those plans are on the backburner for now.
That’s probably for the best as he’s already managed to fill that empty diary.
MIRIAM A GAS FOR HER FANS
MIRIAM Margoyles is 81 – but she’s a big noise with young people.
The Call The Midwife actress says their adulation is “bewildering”, especially when they ask her to trump on command.
She told the Plot Twist podcast: “I don’t understand at all why I should be known to the younger generation.
“They write to me now and want me to do these Cameos for them and they always say, ‘Please fart, please swear, please tell funny stories’.
“I mean, I fart when I feel a fart coming on but I can’t invent a fart, so I don’t quite know what I’m supposed to do.
“But anyway, it’s quite sweet that they know me and I’m quite touched by it, but it’s bewildering. I can’t understand it at all.”
MEGHAN QUEEN OF THE KITCHEN?
MEGHAN Markle was lined up for British TV work before landing her plum role in our Royal Family – and BBC1’s MasterChef was on the menu.
As an emerging actress, the now Duchess of Sussex appeared in US legal drama Suits as Rachel Zane.
But I can reveal Meghan’s efforts to raise her profile this side of the Pond – before marrying Prince Harry – almost saw her appear on the cooking contest.
Talent agent Jonathan Shalit told royal biographer Tina Brown he had been working with Meghan in 2013.
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Tina writes in her new book The Palace Papers: “Suits had developed something of a cult following in the UK and he was charmed, he told me, by her warmth and poise.
“He thought he could secure her TV shows and stage work. ‘Celebrity MasterChef would have loved her,’ he said.”
BARRY’S JUNGLE BUNGLE
CAMPMATES tend to bank a tidy packet on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity – as do their agents.
But sports promoter Barry Hearn tells a tale of woe involving his client, snooker great Steve Davis.
Writing in My Life, he said: “When Steve retired, I told him I was going to give him the best retirement present I could. I said, ‘I have managed you for 40 years and I am going to manage you for the rest of your life, but from now on I will never take another penny in commission’.
“We both reckoned that he wouldn’t be doing very much.
“A few weeks later, he was wanted by the TV show I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!
“I negotiated his fee, a cool £250,000. My cut? Zero.”