Vicky Pattison finding Strictly Come Dancing ‘intimidating and overwhelming’

By Jenny Garnsworthy, PA

Strictly Come Dancing contestant Vicky Pattison has said she is finding the show “intimidating and overwhelming”, but is keen to push herself out of her comfort zone.

The reality TV star, who is partnered with professional dancer Kai Widdrington for the hit BBC series, said training had been a “baptism of fire”.

She told Women’s Health UK: “All the pros are carved like angels, and I’m there sweating away in my gym gear.

I think it’s going to be the cardio that lets me down... everyone is so fitVicky Pattison

“It’s both intimidating and overwhelming. But as you get older, you don’t often get the opportunity to get out of your comfort zone. I like to prove I’m capable.”

Pattison said although she has become “relatively strong over the past couple of years” through weight training, Pilates and regularly taking part in charity challenges such as treks, she still feels underprepared for the intensity of Strictly.

“I think it’s going to be the cardio that lets me down… everyone is so fit,” she added.

Pattison, who shot to fame on reality TV show Geordie Shore, said that when she was a contestant on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2015 she felt she had a lot less to lose than she does on Strictly.

She said a friend had told her: “When you went into the jungle, everyone thought you were an arsehole, but you knew you could go in and change people’s perceptions.’

“Now I’ve spent 10 years working to show people that I was young, making mistakes and I wasn’t the best version of myself… I’m scared that under this spotlight, I’ll mess up.”

I think we’re coming around to the idea (as a society) that a woman doesn’t have to have children to be fulfilled - and, for me, there’s still a huge question mark over motherhoodVicky Pattison

The Heart radio presenter said she has started having therapy again as she might be feeling “a bit of imposter syndrome”.

“Maybe it’s working-class feelings of being undeserving. Maybe it’s deep-rooted self-doubt. I don’t know what it is, but it’s all come back,” she added.

Pattison, who has spoken previously about having her eggs frozen, said she and her husband Ercan Ramadan were still undecided as to whether to have children.

She told the magazine: “I think we’re coming around to the idea [as a society] that a woman doesn’t have to have children to be fulfilled – and, for me, there’s still a huge question mark over motherhood.”

The full interview can be read in the November issue of Women’s Health UK, which features Pattison on the cover and is on sale now.