Jeremy Vine revealed his Strictly dance partner has urged him to channel David Beckham in his choice of underwear while competing.
Vine, 50, confessed his professional partner Karen Clifton had pulled him up on his choice of faded, ripped and baggy boxer shorts when she spotted him changing into tracksuit bottoms for dance practice.
He told the Radio Times: "(She said) 'Now that you've become a Latin dancer, Jeremy, you have to think sexy, manly and attractive - and you get that by wearing smaller pants. Briefs, not boxers, please. Channel David Beckham when we're dancing.'"
Beckham was described as "the underwear model of the century" by designer Tommy Hilfiger and has flashed his thighs for brands Emporio Armani and H&M.
Vine, on the other hand, admitted to wearing "bad man-pants" that have a habit of "ballooning over the top of (his) jeans", something prohibited in the Strictly world of top hats and tails where clothes are often sewn on to the body.
"This means undergarments have to be skintight. More importantly, I must get used to stripping in front of strangers, many of them female - which was never required when I presented Newsnight," he joked.
Vine revealed he found a pair of briefs that fitted Clifton's requirements in the back of his drawers: a pair which say Merry Christmas across the bum but may come in handy if he reaches the finals near Christmas.
Vine and his partner, who he dubs the Divine Being, did the cha cha to September by Earth, Wind and Fire on Saturday's show and scored just 20 points, including a mere two from judge Craig Revel Horwood.
His Christmas underwear might have to stay in the drawer a little longer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here