I told my husband I'm either doing Strictly or we're going to have a baby...He was over the moon when they called

Vicky on joining show and battling nerves

- BY SHELLEY SPADONI

Strictly duo share a giggle in photoshoot

With a TV career that started 14 years ago on wild MTV show Geordie Shore, Vicky Pattison has climbed the rungs of the reality TV ladder as she continues to impress on family-friendly Strictly Come Dancing.

She's currently in sixth place on the leaderboard and ahead of tonight's show it’s all to play for.

Pattison, 37, is paired with pro dancer Kai Widdrington, and revealed that overcoming her anxiety has been the biggest challenge.

She says: "I was really shocked at how all-consuming it was at first. I'd be visibly shaking and, yeah, there were a lot of tears.

"Maybe watching me do this, though I'm really scared, will give people faith that they can do amazing things if they go outside their comfort zone.

"And Kai does this lovely thing - he turns to me before we go out on the dance floor and says, 'We're just dancing. Just me and you - just dance with me'.

"It's so powerful and so lovely. The outside noise just drifts away."

As the hopes of lifting the Glitterball trophy feel closer to a reality, Pattison, who married businessman Ercan Ramadan in August last year, jokes that it was a tossup between having a baby or competing on Strictly.