Ulrika Jonsson has revealed that she was lined up to host Strictly Come Dancing but lost out to Tess Daly because she was pregnant at the time.
The presenter, 56, who has four children said that despite being keen, she had to decline the offer as she was weeks away from giving birth when filming started.
Writing in The Sun, she said: 'I had no choice but to turn it down, which was heartbreaking.'
Tess Daly went on to host Strictly Come Dancing, alongside TV veteran Bruce Forsyth, before Claudia Winkleman replaced Bruce as Tess' co-host when he quit the show in 2014.
MailOnline has reached out to Strictly Come Dancing representatives.
Ulrika Jonsson has revealed that she was lined up to host Strictly Come Dancing but had to decline because she was pregnant at the time
As the presenter, 56, who has four children was weeks away from giving birth when filming started, she had to say no, which meant the gig went to Tess Daly (pictured)
Ulrika, who hosted Gladiators from 1992-2000, also revealed that she had 'to fight tooth and nail' to keep her job while pregnant during the third series of the entertainment game show.
The Swedish presenter claimed producers deemed a pregnant woman 'too high risk'.
She wrote: 'They refused to let me host the last two weeks of international shows and they employed a midwife to follow me around with a chair so I could sit down between takes.
'I wasn’t ill. I was just six months pregnant.'
Ulrika continued saying that there is never a right time for a woman to pause her job and have a baby.
She added that in doing so, raising a child 'isn't a break' and there are worries women have about returning to work which make the whole thing feel unnerving.
She said: 'As women, if we take any extended time ‘off work’, we risk falling behind on promotions or being considered for other roles. That is, if your employer hasn’t already written you off and cleared your desk by the time you go back.'
Ulrika's column comes after Jodie Marsh revealed she felt bullied by the former TV weather girl after she mocked her appearance.
Tess Daly went on to host Strictly Come Dancing, alongside TV veteran Bruce Forsyth, before Claudia Winkleman replaced Bruce as Tess' co-host when he quit the show in 2014 (pictured together in 2004)
Ulrika who hosted Gladiators from 1992- 2000 also claimed that producers deemed a pregnant woman 'too high risk'
She added that she had 'to fight tooth and nail' to keep her job while pregnant during the third series of the entertainment game show
Speaking to MailOnline, former glamour model Jodie - who has quit fame to open an animal sanctuary - explained that she was already struggling to cope with being trolled about her appearance when Ulrika wrote a 'vile' column about her in the now defunct News Of The World.
Jodie, 45, recalled: 'It was the nastiest thing I've ever read about my physical appearance. She was joking that she and her husband at the time couldn't work out if my nose was a trunk because it was so big and ugly.
'I was suicidal from being trolled, and I remember crying for days over it. It was the nastiest thing. I'd never met the woman and it was so uncalled for it. It was just out and out bullying.'
So shocked was Jodie by the column that she decided to reach out to Ulrika, 56, with a letter, but says she didn't receive a response.
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