BBC Strictly Come Dancing Nick Knowles' huge weight loss and TV rule break

Nick Knowles has donned his dancing shoes for the new season of Strictly Come Dancing. The DIY SOS presenter has been paired with Luba Mushtak on the hit BBC programme.

The 61-year-old explained last month: "I’m so, so excited to be doing Strictly this year. People may be more used to me getting stuck in on a building site or travelling the world, but dancing live on TV will be a whole new adventure. I’ve spent my whole life learning new skills and I’ve never been afraid of a challenge.

"There’s life in the old dog yet to take on one more big one, being taught how to dance! I’ll give it my everything .... and try not to embarrass my kids of course!” But things aren't looking too hopeful for Nick, who was the favourite to be voted off first when the show began.

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His odds of winning the show outright have since slipped to 100/1, although he shares the same odds with ex-footballer and pundit Paul Merson and his partner Karen Hauer, both having only a slim chance of clinching the series win.

Nick is already feeling the effects of the intense six-week training regime to get into shape for the show. He told our sister site, Mirror Online, that he has already lost 12 kilos since starting dance training.

He said: "I’m elated and knackered - those are the two words I’d put together. It is the most fabulous experience with the most fabulous people but it’s also one of the toughest things that I’ve ever tried to do and I’m literally shattered at the end of every day that we do."

Nick admitted he was braced for how tough the training could be as he said: "I’ve been really in heavy training now for six weeks in the lead up to this and I’d lost a lot of weight and did a lot of running and a lot of gym work to get my heart rate down and get fit with it. I thought I’d be ready to deal with it and I’m not ready at all. If anybody would like to donate their feet I need to change mine because they’ve had it!"

Nick has been open with his fitness journey in the past and revealed he overhauled his lifestyle after a health scare in 2017. He told Good Morning Britain at the time how he had "taken up yoga, given up meat and even went a week without eating food at all."

According to the Express, the lifestyle change came after the presenter appeared on BBC One’s reality show The Retreat, which followed Nick for four weeks as he adopted a plant-based diet. Speaking about his health makeover he said: “A year and a half ago I was really, really, unwell.

“I was carrying a lot of stress from work and things. Actually on my way to these studios here to do a pilot for a new show I sneezed in the back of a taxi and burst an artery in my sinuses.

“It wasn’t just a nosebleed – I had to have an emergency operation to get it sorted out.” Nick's Strictly stint continues his long career with the BBC as he has presented DIY SOS since 1999. However, the presenter was forced to miss a single episode of the emotional home makeover show in 2021.

The TV personality was replaced for The Big Build Children in Need special by Rhod Gilbert. Nick was forced to miss the episode after he found himself in hot water with the BBC after he broke the broadcaster's rules.

Nick broke the rules when he appeared as a builder in a Shreddies advert. The advert violated BBC editorial guidelines which bans actors and artists from appearing in promotional work "in a way which mimics or replicates their on-air roles for the BBC."

The decision he would miss an episode was confirmed in a joint statement issued in 2021. The statement said: "Both Nick and the BBC have resolved the issue recently reported relating to Nick’s commercial agreements and BBC guidelines.

The statement added: “With the campaign still running, Nick will step back from the DIY SOS Children In Need special this year but will be back on our screens in 2022.” The BBC said in a separate statement that Nick "is an important member of the BBC family" and Nick has been very supportive of Rhod taking his role.

Before the show was broadcast, Nick said: "Rhod is a lovely chap, was properly emotionally engaged, did a great job and it really is about the kids and raising funds for BBC Children in Need. I appreciate people being loyal to me but I urge you all to support this build and Rhod and donate if you can."

Strictly Come Dancing's launch episode gets underway at 7.20pm on BBC One on Saturday, September 14.

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