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Strictly Come Dancing hopeful Fern Britton has revealed she had cleared her diary on the off-chance that show bosses would approach her for the series.
And she admitted she is such a fan that she was in tears when her one-off appearance on 2010's Christmas special was over.
She is among the 14 stars who will be seen taking to the dancefloor on Saturday night when the series returns to BBC1.
Former This Morning host Britton said she had been approached in previous years but other work had got in the way.
"I've watched every episode. I'm a big fan," she said.
"I've been asked before. I've always been tempted but I've always had things to do and I couldn't commit to the time.
"And now I deliberately cleared the autumn this year hoping I'd get the phone call again, because you can't apply you have to be invited.
"And oh, thank God, they rang. So I was very lucky."
She trained for the Christmas edition of the show two years ago, competing against names such as Business Secretary Vince Cable and EastEnders actress June Brown.
She said: "I only did it for three weeks and I was bereft, beside myself, I actually did cry in the kitchen. It was quite sad."
