Angela Rippon on Strictly and women in TV

Speaking on yesterday’s Loose Women Angela shared her views…

Angela Rippon joined Loose Women on Friday for her first television interview since leaving Strictly Come Dancing, as she reflected on the competition and revealed how she’d like to celebrate her 80th birthday next year. Joining Kaye Adams, Nadia Sawalha, Jane Adams and Gloria Hunniford live in the studio, Angela also demonstrated the leg lift that got everyone talking and joked with the panel: “No, you can’t have the shoes!” 

Sharing her predictions ahead of tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing semi-final, Angela said:

“I’m not going to say who I think should win because I think that would be wrong at this stage but what I am going to say is, there are four semi-finalists at the moment [and] I would like to see in the final; Annabel Croft because I think she has made a wonderful journey and she’s dancing… and I want to see Ellie because I think Ellie has done everything technically that could have been asked of her and she’s a pocket rocket!”

Strictly Come Dancing 19-11-2023, Tess Daly, Angela Rippon CBE and Kai Widdrington

Angela raises a move on Loose Women, ITV1/STV

Discussing how much she enjoyed the competition, she said:

“I had a wonderful time, of course I did. I thoroughly enjoyed it and having a wonderful partner to dance with makes all the difference in the world because [Kai] is a great dancer, he is a great teacher – he has the patience of a saint.”… “It was like learning a different language every week.”

Opening up on where she gets her energy from at 79, Angela explained: “I think I was just born with it! I loved doing [Strictly] and the thing that I discovered was that I never once, because we were doing six hours a day, I never once got to the point where muscles gave up on me. She continued: “I have got stronger, my asthma has improved incredibly because obviously my lung function is better and I’ve lost a stone in weight. I just loved doing it and although it was a bit like going to a bootcamp because of the exercise you’re having to do, I just enjoyed every minute of it.” 

Her friend Gloria, and Rip Off Britain co-host, commented: “I’ve decided Angela is made of titanium… and that’s the strength for sure!” Angela replied: “Gloria knows I am titanium because I had arthritis in my shoulder three and a half years ago now and I had to have my whole shoulder replaced. So that’s a prosthetic that I’ve got there but it worked beautifully, it does now. So I am titanium!”  

Angela also shared how she would like to celebrate her 80th birthday next year:

“I sort of carelessly mentioned to a couple of friends, as I’ve never been to Las Vegas, that I might want to do three days in Las Vegas and then go to Palm Springs. Immediately about six people said, ‘Oh, can we come too please?'”  

Angela Rippon, on BBC Two’s Top Gear

Angela Rippon, Gloria Hunniford and Julia Sommerville host BBC One’s Rip Off Britain

Angela opened up to the panel on comments previously made during her career too, explaining: “I mean it wasn’t actually that he said I should retire, I mean this is such an old story now… It was about 30 years ago this story and it was John Birt, who I had to go and see him about something, and he was the Director General [of the BBC] at the time, and during the course of the conversation he said, ‘Well Angela, you have to accept of course that you have had your day and it is time to make [way] for the younger women that are coming up behind you’. 

“I said, ‘Are you having this same conversation with Terry Wogan, Michael Parkinson and named about six men who were all older than me… and of course he wasn’t so he was being a misogynist and ageist in one statement, which I find extraordinary.” 

Gloria added: “When we started, and I’m a bit ahead of you age wise, but when we started there were practically no women at all – either in front of the camera or microphone or behind, so it was kind of an unusual time.”  Angela added: “By the time I got to 50, in the 30 years since… I mean I’ve been broadcasting for 57 years, [Gloria] you’ve been similarly, we have seen in that time, all sorts of things change… 

“You look on screen and look at what women are doing now! How many wonderful women have we got now that have come through the glass ceiling behind us.” 

Loose Women, weekdays on ITV1/STV and Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One this evening.