EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy has spoken out about an incident during her time on Strictly Come Dancing that left her feeling uncomfortable.
Natalie – who has appeared as Sonia Fowler in the BBC soap since she was 10 years old – took part in Strictly back in 2009, finishing in fifth place overall.
Reflecting on her time on the reality show, Natalie has said that while it was generally a positive experience, there was one moment that she remembers as being “a bit out of order”.
“I was about four stone bigger than I am now,” she told Rylan Clark on his Ry-union podcast, noting that her dancing partner Vincent Simone was “quite little”.
Natalie continued: “I remember one week, it was like ‘oh, we’re going to do this dance, but you’re going to pick up Vincent’. I think about it now and think, ‘oh that was out of order’. That was a bit out of order to me.
“I am [laughing now] because it is quite funny! But you couldn’t do that now.”
The BBC had no comment when contacted by HuffPost UK.
Despite this incident, Natalie added that Strictly was the “best job” she’s ever done outside of her Albert Square role.
“I mean, job? That’s a laugh!” she joked. “Getting up, dancing all day, learning how to dance. I had lovely Vincenzo next to me. We were like brother and sister. All week we just laughed the whole time.
“We just had the best time and I loved it. I loved the glitz, the glamour.”
Listen to Natalie’s full interview on Rylan’s Ry-union podcast here.