Ellie Taylor has admitted her children see her Strictly Come Dancing hosting job as a “great annoyance”.

Last month, the comedian, 42, was announced as the new host of Strictly – It Takes Two.

However, Taylor has now revealed her two young children – an eight-year-old daughter and two-year-old son – are not that impressed by her new role.

“I think children are beautifully humbling. They don’t give a monkey because all they know is the mummy won’t be there for bedtime,” she said.

“So, they view it as a great annoyance that Mummy has a dream job. They don’t care. They just want me to read The Gruffalo. I need to try and sort of get them into get them into Strictly.”

However, Taylor – who competed alongside new host Johannes Radebe on the series in 2022 – said her daughter was “quite into it” when she had taken to the dancefloor four years ago.

“I need to properly make them buy into it, but my daughter is weirdly into the scores. My little one is not even three yet so he doesn’t have a clue,” she said.

“But he loves a sequin,” she said. “He loves an accessory, so maybe this is the show for him. And hopefully I can get my daughter to come to a recording of It Takes Two at some point. So, she’ll like that because she might get to go and see my hair and makeup ladies, and she’ll get a bit of eyeshadow, and then she’ll be well into that.”

Recalling finding out she had been offered the job, Taylor said she “squealed a bit” and then told her husband.

“My husband was downstairs, and I sort of badly cha-cha’d into the kitchen, going da da da da da doing the Strictly theme tune. So just a subtle little announcement. I was delighted, and still am. I keep waking up in the middle of the night, being like, ‘Oh my God, I got the dream job! I can’t believe it! I cannot wait to start! And I’m absolutely thrilled,” she said.

In June, It Takes Two’s host Manrara – who had presented the series since 2021 – confirmed she was “no longer a part” of Strictly.

Although East has not commented publicly on her departure, Taylor said she had spoken to her.

She said: “I did Strictly with Fleur, and when I found out I got It Takes Two, I messaged her and said I hoped I could do half as good a job as she had.”

“She wrote a lovely message back and was really supportive. When you look back at the previous hosts of It Takes Two, I feel so lucky to be part of this lineage of brilliant presenters. I really hope I can bring what they did to the show.”

She added: “I don’t suppose I feel any more pressure than I would with any job. You just want to do any job that you get to the best of your ability, I’m going to go in with probably too much enthusiasm, if anything. So I feel sorry for the production staff who have to manage sort of a Labrador level of energy.”

Speaking about her former dance partner also presenting the main show this year – Taylor said it was “wonderful how things transpire”, adding she was “chuffed” for Radebe.

Although Taylor said there would be changes to It Takes Two this season to make it feel “fresh”, the aim was to still make it feel like a “conduit” for people at home to dive deeper into their love for Strictly.

Referencing the hosts of both shows changing this season after the exits of Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, Taylor said that the heart of the show and its spinoff would not change.

“The dancing will always be the absolute centre of it. Strictly is still going to be Strictly, and It Takes Two will be a lovely little companion show which discusses that – that’s not going to change,” she said.“But I hope all the bits around it people will think are just lovely welcome new little ways to learn more about Strictly and to do deep dives and to maybe see different aspects of Strictly or different aspects of the amazing production on a Saturday night that people haven’t seen.

“I’m really hoping that people embrace and just love the show as much as ever. Even though the faces might be a little bit different, I think I’ve got a lot of hope that it’s going to be a brilliant series for everybody.”