‘I don’t feel pressure to look good – but I’m not ruling out surgery’
By Dina Behrman
‘I love this look,’ exclaims Tess Daly, as she poses in the shortest of mini-dresses next to a pile of smashed-up TVs for our shoot. ‘But just don’t get a shot of my gusset…'
Normally seen in ladylike dresses and up-do’s for her job as co-host of Strictly Come Dancing, today the bubbly TV star is all long blonde locks and super-long legs – and admits she’s thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to be a rock chick. ‘It’s good to be a bit rock and roll, I don’t usually get to be. I’m not the sort of person who effs and blinds on TV, I only feel comfortable doing stuff my mum or dad could watch. Everyone has their limits of what they’re happy with, and my parents are my benchmark.’
Although we can’t imagine Mr and Mrs Daly having much to worry about with Tess. The Stockport-born lass has fronted all five series of Strictly Come Dancing, making her a regular light-entertainment host – the only thing that could possibly offend someone would be the amount of lip gloss she wears.
‘I absolutely love doing Strictly,’ she says. ‘The highlight this year was Gethin Jones tearing up the dancefloor with his salsa – it was wild, we loved it. And every time Mark Ramprakash comes back, that’s always a highlight for me,’ she laughs.
Mind you, Tess has yet to take to the floor herself, although she’s certainly been tempted. ‘I’ve had a few tentative dance lessons with Anton du Beke – he has to deal with the fact that I try to grab him for a quick spin every time I walk past. I jump on him and say “swing me faster”. I love it. The more I see, the more I want to have a go. Although I’ve got two left feet. But I’m an enthusiastic disco dancer, that’s for sure.’
Tess admits the sparkly outfits would be enough to tempt her into appearing on Strictly as a contestant – ‘I find the whole thing so exciting’ – but as for ballroom dancing with her husband, TV presenter Vernon Kay, she’s not so sure.
‘Vernon loves dancing, he’s got a good sense of rhythm. But he’s very long, so the Latin would be difficult to control…’
Tess and Vernon, who married in Vernon’s home town of Bolton in 2003, were recently crowned showbiz’s ‘ultimate couple’. Not that they see themselves as a celebrity duo, à la Jordan and Peter.
‘I don’t think we’d call ourselves showbiz, we are quite private. There are things we like to keep private, such as family, but we go out now and then. It’s nice to have a trip up the red carpet, but you need a balance really, a happy medium. At the end of the day, we’re just two down-to-earth northerners.’
So is it all Yorkshire tea and chips and gravy at the Daly and Kay household?
‘Vernon’s started cooking for me all of a sudden. I don’t know what’s brought it about, but I fully embrace it. He’s a good cook too, quite experimental.’
When he’s not in the kitchen, Vernon is busy hosting Family Fortunes, and until recently had a job as a radio DJ too, so fitting in time to see each other could get quite difficult.
‘Vernon’s just given up his Sunday slot on Radio 1, so we can have weekends together. We’ve not had a weekend in each other’s company for eight years, so it’ll be nice. We like to do things like going to the park or the zoo, catching up with friends, going out for lunch. Just chilling out. It’s really important that we make time for us, which isn’t easy when you’ve got a toddler.’
Although it seems weekends aren’t quite enough. Tess is keen to spend even more time with Vernon on screen, and admits she’d love to do more TV work with him (the pair previously hosted Just The Two Of Us), and may even have a new show in the pipeline. ‘When we worked together before we really enjoyed it. I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, I want to miss him once in a while, but we enjoyed it. It’s chemistry you don’t have to force.’
As for keeping that spark alive, Tess says it’s vital to spend quality time together. ‘I insist we have holidays, so we can spend time as a family. I try not to take him for granted, it’s important to respect each other. And to remember to have a laugh.’
On top of this, being in the public eye means Tess has the unenviable job of keeping herself looking good (she was voted number 23 in FHM’s Sexiest Girls poll a few yeas ago), but says she doesn’t feel pressure to look perfect.
‘Well, not since moving to the country.’ She exclaims. ‘You should see me round the local shops. It’s nice having the chance to dress up, put on high heels and nice make-up, I love it as much as the next girl. But I also love chilling out, not wearing make-up and just throwing on the nearest thing I can find. I’m not very high maintenance, but I like making an effort sometimes.’
Making an effort includes going to the gym once or twice a week, but Tess confesses there’s no chance of her developing an LA-style gym obsession.
‘I’ve started going to the gym just to keep the figure I always had. I’m quite fortunate that I never had to diet, I always used to stay quite slim. But like everyone else, it catches up with you as you get older, especially after having a child.
‘I don’t enjoy the gym, I have to drag myself there. But at least I’m going. Although it’s only about once a week, just to alleviate the guilt.’
As for getting an extra helping hand with her looks, Tess says she’s not completely adverse to the idea of plastic surgery. ‘I think each to their own. It’s dreadful when women have too much surgery and they don’t look like themselves any more. But there’s nothing wrong with a bit of maintenance, and who knows, maybe I’ll end up having some?’
In the meantime it’s clear Tess knows what she wants out of life, both professionally and in her private life – ‘to continue doing the work I enjoy doing, to be a mum and a good wife, enjoy my life and be happy’ – and it seems she’s well on her way to achieving it.
‘I love Christmas!’
Christmas chez Tess and Vern sounds like pretty good fun to us. ‘I’ll be spending time with family, cooking turkey, and we’ve got an 8ft tree. I love Christmas, and Christmas dinner is my favourite meal ever. I try to stretch it out as long as I can – I’m eating mince pies from 1st October. It’s very sad, but it’s my favourite time of the year.’
Mirror
