Alison Hammond makes U-turn on Strictly hosting gig after ‘turning it down’

Alison Hammond has set the record straight on her desire to be the next Strictly Come Dancing host.

Since Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly announced their departure from the flagship BBC reality series last year, speculation has been rife over who could possibly step into their fabulous heels.

The who’s who of British presenters have all been floated from the inimitable Alan Carr to The One Show’s Alex Jones and far, far beyond. Of course, it’s a no-brainer that national treasure Alison was soon part of the conversation.

Earlier this week, the This Morning icon shared that she had been approached about Strictly, quipping: ‘I’m so busy, babes, that I’m not sure it’s going to happen. It’s unrealistic.’

‘I would have loved to have done it – anybody that gets it, they’re going to land the perfect job. But I’m so happy with everything I’ve got. What would I drop, to do Strictly?’ the former Strictly celeb contestant added to Radio Times.

Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter.

Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.

But now, the plot has thickened when Metro sat down with Alison and co-star Sam Ryder at the launch of their new Channel 4 series Your Song, which follows aspiring singers up and down the country as they perform the tune that means the most to them.

With music on the mind, we mentioned the Big Brother legend’s gutting Strictly blow, but she was quick to push back, reaffirming her enthusiasm for the gig of a lifetime.

Sharing her incredulity at the idea of ever ‘turning down’ the job, she said: ‘Do you think I would turn down Strictly if Strictly came along? Who would turn down Strictly! They’d be absolutely crazy.’

She explained: ‘I was trying to back them off because ultimately everyone keeps putting my name in the mix and they’re ruining my chances of even getting on to Strictly, d’you know what I mean?’

‘You all need to stop talking about it because I need to get in.’

To the backdrop of Sam’s laughter, she passionately declared: ‘I’m not too busy, I’m fitter than I’ve ever been before. I can do Strictly. I can do it all. All these people saying: “I’m too busy, and I can’t do it…”, I could do Strictly. Let’s put that on the record.’

So, there we have it, folks. Don’t count Alison out of the running just yet!

In the meantime, however, she’s gonna be stirring up a storm on this new singing reality show, from the creator of The Piano, which stars Sam and Paloma Faith series mentors.

Discussing what convinced her to take up the role as host – and cheerleader for our budding music artists – she shared how instant the decision to say yes was.

‘It was about the people. It was all about something that was authentic, something that felt real.

‘As soon as I heard the concept of it, I was like: “I am in.”This is simple, this is good, but it also felt like it was looking after the contributors, which I think is so important.

‘The duty of care was there, and I just felt I’ve got to do this, and I’m the person to do it. I love people. I love singing. I love dancing as well. But ultimately, it was the show for me. I just loved it.’

Elias Koteas plays detective Alvin Olinsky in just over 100 episodes of “Chicago P.D.” This is in addition to a combined eight episodes as the character on “Chicago Justice,” “Chicago Fire,” and “Chicago Med.” Between his debut in the “Chicago P.D.” pilot and his departure in Season 5, Episode 22, Alvin is a core member of the show’s cast and the One Chicago universe at large. In his final appearance, however, Alvin dies, meaning that the episode’s May 2018 air date marks Koteas’ definitive exit from the franchise.

After that final episode of “Chicago P.D.” Season 5 first aired, TVLine interviewed showrunner Rick Eid about the decision to kill off Alvin. “From a creative perspective, it was a decision that evolved organically,” he said, detailing how the series’ writers landed on Alvin’s death as a byproduct of a key storyline.

“From a business perspective, however, this was an extremely difficult decision,” Eid continued. “Elias is a terrific actor and a good person. He’s also been an important part of the show since the very beginning. So this part of the process was really challenging. But Elias handled the news like a true professional and remained committed to the show and his character until the final shot. We will miss him dearly.”

Koteas’ “Chicago P.D.” departure, then, was not the result of an interpersonal conflict or even a desire to move on to other work, but the notion that Alvin’s death was what was best for the series’ story at the time.

The Chicago P.D. writers’ room at one point considered Alvin’s survival

In his TVLine interview, Rick Eid characterized Alvin Olinsky’s death as a plot point the “Chicago P.D.” writers’ room decided would best serve the character’s storyline going into the Season 5 finale. He echoed this sentiment in another interview published around the same time by Entertainment Weekly. That said, during this latter conversation, Eid revealed that Alvin surviving that episode’s events was, at least at one point, something the writers’ room considered. “I think everything was on the table,” he said. “We went through practically every iteration we could think of, and we all just kept coming back to this idea as a really powerful idea. That’s ultimately how it all came about.”

Furthermore, Eid emphasized that accepting the “Chicago P.D.” team’s decision to kill off Elias Koteas’ character wasn’t easy. “Ultimately, the final decision is just really hard because everybody loves Elias, and he’s a great actor and a great person. It’s hard,” he said.

Based on these comments, Alvin’s death was something the “Chicago P.D.” writers decided made so much sense it was worth overcoming what was otherwise an aversion to writing Koteas off of the show.