'I'm a huge TV star and was asked to do Strictly – I said no for one huge reason'

A Team GB Paralympian has revealed that they were once approached to do Strictly Come Dancing , but had to turn it down. Kadeena Cox spoke exclusively to Express.co.

uk about her time on reality TV shows such as Celebrity MasterChef and I'm A Celebrity...



Get Me Out Of Here! but has always wanted to appear on the BBC dance competition. The 34-year-old has also appeared on shows such as The Jump and participated in The Great Celebrity Bake Off: Stand Up to Cancer, Celebrity Catchphrase, and A League of Their Own. She is best known for competing in Athletics and Cycling for Team GB in the Paralympic Games and has multiple sclerosis (MS).

Speaking to Express Online, she confessed, "I've had a conversation with them [Strictly] in the past, unfortunately, just timing-wise it kind of didn't work out." She added, "Basically, it's before when we do the Paralympics. I think one of the first things they were doing was on the 26th of August, and my first day of competition in Tokyo [2021] was the 28th.

That wasn't going to work." Kadeena explained that she would still love to do it in the future, and said that she was a dancer until she was 14 years old before she entered the world of elite athletics. She also revealed that she "wanted to quit" the cookery show Celebrity MasterChef, despite going on to win the series in 2021.

The BBC programme features plenty of famous faces competing to be crowned the best chef that season and is fronted by John Torode and Grace Dent , who replaced Gregg Wallace after he stepped down in November. Wallace stepped back from co-presenting duties amid allegations of misconduct, which he denies. "I think I always say it's my favorite show, although at the time I did want to quit, which is really funny.

But I wanted to quit because I was training really hard," Kadeena confessed. "We were 5 months out from the Paralympics. So, training while trying to learn new recipes and film a TV show, because of COVID , there was no hair and makeup, so I had to do my hair and makeup myself.

A lot was going on. But I had a great time." Kadeena went on to win the 2021 series of Celebrity MasterChef, and later that year, she competed in Cycling and Athletics and bagged two gold medals at the velodrome in the Mixed 750m Team sprint C1-C5 and the 500m time trial C4-C5.

Kadeena has recently teamed up with vitamin and supplement brand Bioglan for their fourth series of In Bioglan Balance. The athletics star aims to create an audio running guide that shares her best advice, motivation, and anecdotes from her time on the track. Speaking about the campaign, she said, "The audio series that we're doing, it's a three-part series, and I'm joined by another Paralympian, Richard Whitehead, who I've known for donkeys' years, and Doctor Alex George.

It's essentially us talking about running, and from a different perspective, Doctor Alex does a lot for mental health. "It's just being able to encourage people to get out running. It's one of those things that you don't need any equipment for, really.

You need a good pair of trainers and can get out running. It just helps with the happy hormones and all the little things, and makes your body feel better." To listen to the series visit @bioglansupplements Spotify page and to watch snippets of the podcasts, visit @bioglansupplements on Instagram .

.