Vernon Kay has been married to Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly for longer than the hit TV show has been on the air – but he has not once been asked to compete on the show

Vernon Kay has let loose over the fact he has never once been asked to compete on Strictly Come Dancing – despite the fact his wife is the host.

The 50-year-old model and former T4 presenter has been married to 55-year-old Tess since 2003 and together they are proud parents to daughters Pheobe, 19, and 14-year-old Amber. Tess has been a host of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing since the show launched in 2004 – first co-hosting with the late Sir Bruce Forsyth and more recently alongside Claudia Winkleman.

This year, comedian Chris McCausland, 47, won the 22nd season of the show – which concluded earlier this month and saw the blind stand-up lift the glitterball trophy alongside professional dancer Dianne Buswell. While the very first season was won by newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky alongside her professional dance partner, Brendan Cole.

While Vernon has been married to Tess for longer than the show has been on the air, he has been left less than impressed that he has not been able to land a part on the show as a contestant. And while he may not be impressed that the BBC show has not yet asked him to take part, it seems he has a well rehearsed answer to give if the moment ever arises.

Tess has hosted Strictly since 2004 ( 
Image:
BBC)

Speaking to The Sun, Vernon revealed: “If they asked me, I’d think about it – and then I’d say no. Let’s be honest, it’s been 20 bloody years and I’ve still not had a phone call. It’s like, I’m right here! Hello!” He added: “Every now and then I’ll bump into the BBC executives at Broadcasting House, so I think it’s time I say ‘hello, remember me’.” After Chris and Dianne won the 2024 season of the show, Vernon revealed that Tess had struggled to retain her composure after being impressed by the comedian’s win.

He explained: “Chris has done absolutely amazingly and Dianne had everyone in tears in the semi-final when she said, look, Chris hasn’t seen other people dance. He hasn’t seen what he’s accomplished, what he’s achieved. He hasn’t seen his own hand placement or footwork.”

“It just struck a cord and touched everyone in the studio. Tess was in tears and she had to really fight back tears when she did the next link to introduce the next dancer.” Viewers watched Tess struggle to fight back tears when Dianne shared her own pride over her Strictly win.

Accepting the trophy, she said on the show: “I have taught Chris all this time without a single visual cue. He’s not been able to look at a video back to see if he did a great job or needs to work on anything. He’s never been able to see his competitors, yet he’s seen this competition so well because he’s captured the spirit of the show. I could not be more proud of him. He has shown that anything is possible.”