For a quarter of a century, Matt Baker has presented the biggest shows in telly, from Blue Peter to The One Show, but nothing hit him quite like Strictly.
The 46-year-old reached second place in the BBC ballroom competition series with professional dancer Aliona Vilani, 40, in 2010.
‘It was a busy time for me,’ Matt told Metro.co.uk, ahead of the launch of Channel 4 show Matt Baker: Travels with Mum and Dad season 43.
Busy is an understatement. While Matt was busting a gut on the Strictly live shows and rehearsals, he was also juggling The One Show and Countryfile.
He said: ‘I don’t think anybody in the history of Strictly has had a more intense experience than me when you look at all of the work I was doing at the same time.’
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It is an experience the Olympics commentator looks back on fondly 14 years later – although he has not stayed in touch with Aliona or the rest of his Strictly cohort.
Earlier this year, the show was engulfed in a scandal over the alleged treatment of contestants. Graziano Di Prima left Strictly after allegedly ‘kicking’ Zara McDermott and there is an ongoing investigation into Giovanni Pernice’s conduct.
Matt said he ‘really enjoyed’ the training as he recalled his years as a British squad gymnast in his youth before an anemia diagnosis put an end to his professional career.
After trying out pole vaulting Matt eventually decided to become an actor and studied drama, before learning Blue Peter was on the hunt for a team. He called up the BBC and the rest is history. ‘But I never wanted to be a presenter,’ he said.
Matt co-presented the children’s show from 1999 until 2006 and it has always maintained a reputation for being squeaky clean. There was a national scandal when former presenter Richard Bacon was exposed for cocaine use in 1998. He was fired by the BBC.
Veteran broadcaster Matt, however, felt no pressure to live up to the expectation of a clean-cut image. ‘I was just myself,’ he said.’ I never really got bothered by any of that, or into any of that. I just kept myself to myself.’
Matt continued: ‘I had a little cottage out in the Chilterns with my sheep and sheepdog Meg. That was when I was at my happiest when I introduced Meg onto the show.’
The father-of-two progressed from Blue Peter to Countryfile and later The One Show. He co-hosted the latter with Alex Jones for nearly a decade from 2011 before deciding to leave during the pandemic.
There is now a vacancy on The One Show after the BBC sacked presenter Jermaine Jenas over allegations he ‘sent unsolicited texts to a female staff member.’ He later apologised if he made the women he messaged feel uncomfortable and insisted nothing illegal happened with the ‘two consenting adults’.
Would he ever return? ‘You might leave the show, but you never leave the family,’ Matt teased.
He continued: ‘If they needed me for anything, I’m more than happy to have a chat with them and see how I can be helpful.
‘I love that show. I spent nine years of my life on it so it’s very close to my heart and it always will be.’
Matt’s most viral moment on The One Show was when he asked former prime minister David Cameron: ‘How on earth do you sleep at night?’ He’s never clarified whether it was a dig or an innocent question.
When I asked him what his intention was, he said cryptically: ‘Well, I asked a question that just came to me when I was sitting there, so I just asked it.’
Matt added: ‘The key to a good question is you ask it in a way that people canthen decide what you said.’
There’s certainly no ambiguous meaning in Travels with Mum and Dad, which is about as wholesome as it gets. It’s the TV equivalent of sharing a bear hug with your nan.
In season 3, Matt and his parents Mike, 80, and Janice, 77, continue their travels around the North East, visiting the likes of the Northumberland County Show and the Durham Regatta.
For Matt, making the programme is pure joy. ‘Seeing how much fun my parents are having is a real gift for me and the fact that I can give them these new experiences,’ he explained.
And his short pitch to viewers? ‘It’s celebrating where you live, why you live there, and people and community and just having a good time together,’ he said.
‘The key word is togetherness.’
Matt Baker: Travels with Mum and Dad is available to watch or stream from 9pm on Monday on Channel 4.
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