BBC Strictly's Nick Knowles unveils dramatic weight loss as he admits 'terrible' mistake
EXCLUSIVE: Strictly Come Dancing newbie Nick Knowles has confessed to a "terrible" mistake, despite spending six weeks getting in shape for the BBC show.
Nick Knowles revealed all at a roundtable event ahead of next Saturday's glitzy Strictly Come Dancing launch show.
The DIY SOS host has successfully managed to adapt to wearing heels, despite his look being the polar opposite of how he is usually portrayed. However, his blunder was trying to pair them up with fishnets.
He groaned: "I got on alright with the high heels.. [but] I made a terrible mistake by wearing fishnets with them and got that grid on the bottom of them. The chafing was bad." Nick continued: "I've been training to get fit for this for about six weeks and lost a lot of weight but there is still going to be an enormous amount of stretch fabric with whatever I wear."
Despite that, the TV star seems to be far more comfortable in heel shoes than one of his female co-stars - Gladiator and Olympian Montell Douglas. As the first female athlete to compete at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, the gold medal-winning sprinter is more at home in her trainers.
She confessed that wearing the Cuban-heeled shoes was the "biggest challenge" she'd endured so far - and rehearsals have scarcely started yet. "I'm not going to lie, it is difficult," Montell declared.
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"I'm a size 10 foot. I'm 5ft 10in and I've got the tiniest ankles you have ever seen in your life so it is a wobbly thing," she revealed.
"And I live in trainers. I'm an athlete. I've been in trainers for 20 years so I don't ever wear heels like that."
She continued jokingly that the challenge she has set herself is to "look graceful" in her shoes while she's "holding on for dear life".
As Montell isn't able to find her shoe size in heels on the high street, she's accustomed to wearing flats all the time, like Nick and their co-star Pete Wicks.
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Despite that, Nick and Pete have taken to balancing in their new shoes a little better.
Pete, who became pals with 2023 contestant Zara McDermott after co-hosting a regular podcast with her boyfriend Sam Thompson, said of the heels: "We absolutely love them."
He quipped: "I needed the extra height so I am more than happy with a Cuban heel.
"I've told the costume team to go as wild as they want. I don't know what that means and instantly when I said it, I regretted it but here I am. So there will be some interesting outfits I think. I'm not wearing any pants!"
