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A former professional tennis player, Dan can currently be seen on ITV's Daybreak as their sports editor and from September 2011 he will be the main host on Fridays alongside former Strictly contestant Kate Garraway. After playing Tennis professionally for three years, he retired in 1998 and turned to coaching. He began presenting on Sky Sports and then moved on to Sky News as a sports presenter before moving to GMTV and its successor Daybreak. Will he have any aces up his sleeve to help him serve up some dancefloor magic?

What made you decide to take part in Strictly?

I'm looking forward to the challenge. I will be completely out of my comfort zone, facing probably one of my biggest fears! But as well as being terrified, I'm really looking forward to having some fun. Opportunities like this don't come around very often.

What are you looking for from your professional partner?

The professional dancers clearly know what there are doing but it will be great if they have a good understanding of how nerve racking this is actually going to be for me! Maybe some patience? Definitely some TLC! Oh and a good sense of humour would be comforting, although I know I have to be a well behaved student. We have witnessed some great success stories over the years, so maybe there is hope!

You used to be a tennis professional. Will you be pulling in any of the fancy footwork that you learnt on the court?

Hmmm I can't make any promises…but maybe my tennis foot work memory will come in handy! Not sure it's anything like the Salsa?

Have you done any special training or preparation already?

Absolutely none whatsoever... this will be interesting!