Emma Willis wants to do 'Strictly': 'I just need the time off'

Emma Willis has put in an early bid for the Strictly Come Dancing 2021 line-up, saying the only thing standing in her way is getting enough time off work.

The Voice UK presenter said that Strictly was the only celebrity show she was keen on doing, but would sign up in a heartbeat if her schedule allowed.

However, she wasn’t so happy about the idea of doing I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, despite husband Matt Willis winning it in 2006 and the couple having hosted its spin-off camp gossip show together the following year.

She told The Daily Mirror: “I would do Strictly. That’s the only one for me of that type of thing, bugs are not.

“I could not do I’m A Celebrity, I take my hat off to anybody that goes there. What it would take for me to do Strictly would be having that time off during the end of the year, that’s it.”

Willis talked about her admiration for this year’s ballroom winner, Bill Bailey, and his fellow finalist Jamie Laing.

She said: "I think Bill and Jamie, their kind of start where you go with no ability and are still there at the end, that’s a really nice little adventure.”

Willis, who also presented Big Brother for six years, is gearing up for a new series of The Voice UK but said she had found filming the early rounds tough as she couldn’t fulfill her usual role of hugging contestants.

She admitted to being “desperate” to give them a hug and added that virtual hugs were not the same.

The Voice UK will return with singer Anne-Marie as a new judge in place of Meghan Trainor, while Sir Tom Jones, will.i.am, and Olly Murs are all back as mentors.

Watch: Olly Murs strips naked to celebrate The Voice UK win