Alesha Dixon compares doing new series of Greatest Dancer to having second child

Alesha Dixon has compared hosting the second series of The Greatest Dancer to having her second child and admitted she has “matchsticks keeping her eyes open”.

The TV star, who was already mother to Azura, gave birth to her second daughter, Anaya, in August.

The 41-year-old will return to host the second series of the dancing competition with Jordan Banjo, who also has two children, son Cassius and daughter Mayowa, who was born in July.

Dance captains Cheryl, Matthew Morrison and Oti Mabuse will also return for the second outing, alongside new addition Todrick Hall.

Dixon told the PA news agency: “It’s like having a second child, because the second time round you’re more relaxed, you know what you’re doing, but it’s a new addition to the family as well so it’s like new dynamics but for the better.

“And we know all about having a second child, we both have matchsticks keeping our eyes open.”

The show gives the studio audience the power to choose who goes through to the next round and Dixon said she is constantly surprised by who does not advance.

She said: “There are so many talent shows out there, I think the audience has become really savvy so they also have their standards and expectations are set higher and they don’t tolerate.

“There are certain acts where you think they will be kind, they will let them through, and they don’t and that is what is so interesting, when they get a no.

“There are those awkward moments when the mirror doesn’t open. We have learned how to be diplomatic but the audience have got no filter and say ‘No, didn’t like it, rubbish, next.”

She added: “The captains get frustrated from time to time because there might be an act that they technically like for whatever reason but it just goes over the audience’s head and they are like ‘We want more, we want the full package, we want the full shebang’.”

– The Greatest Dancer returns to BBC One on January 4 at 7pm.