Britain’s favourite gardener Alan Titchmarsh recently gave a tell-all interview in The Times, in which he covers, among other things, what he has for breakfast, life in post-war England, the secret to a long-lasting marriage, and… what he told ITV when they asked him to compete in Dancing On Ice.
Hint: it involves the use of an expletive.
Speaking of which, he and his co-presenter Tommy Walsh once had a tête-à-tête over some stray sawdust that Alan reckoned spoiled a garden they’d worked on together.
Things between them got “a bit hairy”, Tommy said of the drama. But they kissed and made up in the end. However, it doesn’t sound like it’ll end quite the same way for the Dancing On Ice producers…
Alan Titchmarsh on declining Dancing On Ice invitation
In an interview with The Times from December 2024, Alan revealed that he has received several invitations to appear on TV programs of various kinds.
This, despite not watching much telly himself.
He turns down Strictly “most years”, apparently, and once added Dancing On Ice to his list of declinations.
“I remember taking the call from my agent. I don’t swear often, but I thought it was worth an expletive: ‘Dancing on Ice? I’m sixty-[bleep]ing-eight!'”
Alan is ‘not the reality TV type’
Among his only forays into the world of reality television was a presenting gig on the series Popstar to Operastar.
He co-presented with Myleene Klass in 2010, but he left the show after the first series concluded, saying later that he’s “not a reality TV type”.
“That’s not my bag,” he told The Sunday Express S Magazine in 2023.
“I’m not a reality TV type. I like to be doing something, like presenting, rather than people assassinating me for the fluff in my navel!”
He had, at the time, turned down Strictly six times, he claimed.
Alan Titchmarsh presented Gardening Club in 2024 and currently hosts Love Your Weekend, which features interviews with celebrity guests.
Love Your Weekend is on Sundays at 9.30am on ITV1.
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