Ahead of her father Ian Balding’s recent death, Clare Balding looked back on her time on Celebrity Traitors and revealed why she has ruled out appearing on Strictly Come Dancing

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 04: Clare Balding BBC TV commentator at The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship at the All England Lawn and Tennis Club at Wimbledon on July 4th, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images)

Clare Balding has turned down Strictly Come Dancing (Image: Simon M Bruty/Getty Images)

Clare Balding, who celebrates her 55th birthday today, recently revealed why she’s turned down Strictly Come Dancing. The sports broadcaster has been approached for a spot on the BBC programme she loves, but has declined for two reasons.

Speaking about her decision, Clare claimed she simply cannot dance, quipping: “It’s not something anybody needs to see, it’s not.”

Moreover, she said her wife Alice Arnold, 62, has expressed firm opposition to her participating in the show.

“Alice has very strong feelings about this,” she explained to Alison Hammond on the Smart TV podcast last year.

“When the request came through she said, ‘You can say yes to that if you like, but I won’t be here when you come back’.”

This Morning’s Alison said she understood the “ultimatum” and suggested the programme “does split people up”, alluding to the notorious Strictly curse.

The term ‘curse’ is used to described the romantic breakdowns that can happen between contestants or professionals while competing on the programme or soon afterwards.

Two individuals are standing side by side on a dark-colored event carpet, possibly attending a formal event. One person is dressed in a long, patterned coat, while the other is wearing a dark coat with a green inner shirt. The background contains text and logos, possibly indicating the name of the event or the sponsors.

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Clare Balding with her wife Alice Arnold (Image: Getty)

Clare Balding Alice Arnold

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Clare Balding’s wife doesn’t want her to compete on Strictly Come Dancing (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Alison went on to say that witnessing your partner dancing with another person “has got to hurt a little”, to which Clare agreed.

The broadcaster and Alice tied the knot in 2015, 16 years after their initial meeting and friendship began.

Looking back at their early acquaintance, Alice previously shared on the Rosebud podcast: “I didn’t think anything. We were both in other relationships.

“Then she came to dinner. I thought you were great at what you did, but a relationship with her was so not on the cards for me. I just knew I liked her and she was fun.”

Despite her reservations at first, romance flourished between the pair and they’ve not looked back since.

In recent times, the duo have featured on Celebrity Gogglebox together, while Clare, whose father Ian died earlier this month, also participated in Celebrity Traitors last year.

Ian Balding was a legendary horse trainer with connections to royalty

Clare Balding’s dad was a legendary horse trainer (Image: Getty Images)

Despite being a loyal faithful, the broadcaster couldn’t persuade her fellow celebrities and was eliminated from the castle in the early stages of the game.

Following Alan Carr’s victory on the programme, Clare looked back on her time on the show and explained why she wouldn’t participate in another reality series.

“It’s huge,” she remarked about the show. “I can’t believe the impact the Traitors has had. I probably wouldn’t do reality TV again. But only because, what’s the point? I’ve done the big one.

“Bigger things are represented by the Traitors even though it’s just a gameshow,” she told Good Housekeeping.

“One of the things I’ve most definitely learned is humour is the most fabulous shield.

“It is the most brilliant way of getting away with things but also raising quite serious issues. I thought Alan was magnificent.”