Ola Jordan felt pressure to be skinny on 'Strictly Come Dancing'

Ola Jordan has said she felt pressure to be thin when she was on Strictly Come Dancing.

The 36-year-old was one of the professional dancers on the BBC programme from 2006 until 2015.

She told MailOnline that she had to “work” to keep her sleek figure during her time on the show, because she is naturally curvy “with the boobs and the bum”.

Jordan said: “When you're on the show there is a thing in your head, you don't wanna stand there… I was never the thinnest girl and I was never that lucky thin girl, I always had to work for it.

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“People would say, ‘Oh my god your body is amazing' and I worked for it. I'd go to the gym a lot, I watched what I ate. I worked for it a lot – it didn't come easy for me.”

“I am a curvy girl,” she added. “I've got the boobs and the bum as well, you know.

“And, I'm short, I'm not tall, so when I put a tiny bit of weight on it really, really shows you know?”

Jordan – who is married to fellow former Strictly dancer James Jordan - admitted she denied herself sweet treats because she felt pressure to be slim alongside the other professionals.

“When you're younger, you're like, ‘Oh my god I've got to be skinny and I've got to look as good as the other girls’,” she said.

“You're on a show in a tiny costume being compared to the other professionals next to you, so you're not gonna have that cake, you're just not.

“Whereas nowadays I go, ‘Shall we go and have that donut?' with my husband, so it's a bit more relaxed now.”

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Jordan said she is now “too old” for Strictly as the schedule is so tough.

“People don't realise how hard the professional dancers work on that show. It is full on, it takes over your life,” she said.

Jordan appeared on 10 series of Strictly, winning the Glitterball trophy with presenter Chris Hollins in 2009.