Strictly It Takes Two’s Zoe Ball admits she asked ‘who?’ when bosses told her they’d signed YouTuber Saffron Barker
STRICTLY It Takes Two host Zoe Ball has admitted that she asked "who?" when bosses told her that they'd signed YouTuber Saffron Barker.
The 19-year-old vlogger was announced as part of this year's line-up yesterday, with fans questioning at the time who she is.
And it appears that they weren't the only ones, with 48-year-old Zoe confessing that she was totally clueless when bosses listed Saffron to her.
Speaking on her breakfast show, the presenter explained: "They've announced another Strictly Come Dancing person.
"Social media star Saffron Barker, she’s 19 and we were all like who?"
Zoe went on to compare Saffron to last year's finalist Joe Sugg, who was the first ever YouTuber to be signed to the BBC One dance show and proved to be a huge success.
She continued: "Maybe she is this year's Joe!
"She could well be, she looks very lovely."
Saffron sparked controversy last year when she complained that a train suicide victim had "made her late".
The popular vlogger fell from favour with fans when she rolled her eyes about the tragic death in a now-deleted video.
In the clip, which led to calls to boycott her range, she moaned: "It should have taken me 50 minutes and instead it took four and a half hours, so that was amazing.
"Obviously, it’s really sad, someone did get hit by a train. But it meant that I couldn’t get home.
"And it wasn't just I couldn't get home, it was just the most stressful thing. They were doing no buses to help anyone. I was in an hour taxi line stood in the cold."
Her comments sparked fierce backlash at the time, and she even lost subscribers from her channel.
She later sincerely apologised, saying: "I completely understand how insensitive my comments were.
"I can see how it would appear that I wasn’t being considerate of the awful incident but in no way did I mean it like that.
"My frustrations were not towards the victim but the overall situation. Anyone that knows me knows there was no disrespect."
Saffron has more than four million followers across her combined social channels and averages 15million views a month on her YouTube channels.
She joins Catherine Tyldesley, David James, Chris Ramsey, Emma Barton and Mike Bushell as celebrities who have been confirmed for Strictly so far.
Meanwhile, Zoe will return to our screens as the host of the show's sister programme It Takes Two later this year.
For the first time ever she will be joined by Rylan Clark-Neal as a co-host.
Speaking previously about his new role, Rylan gushed: "I’ve always been a massive fan of It Takes Two and to be working with the amazing Zoe Ball is a dream.
"I'm extremely honoured to be joining such a television institution and can't wait to bring a lot of mischief to the Strictly bubble. I'm looking forward to getting started and seeing you all soon."
Zoe added: "I adore Rylan, he's an absolute wonder. I love his daftness and naughtiness and he's a brilliant live telly host. He'll fit right into our It Takes Two family. Can't wait for this new season to start, it's going to be a hoot!"
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