10 February 2024 , 20:00
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Sara Davies has spoken about her close friend Amy Dowden's cancer battle - revealing the dancer was so frightened of being dropped from Strictly that she considered delaying her chemotherapy.
Dragons' Den star Sara has been close to Amy since she took to the ballroom in 2021, paired with Aljaz Skorjanec. And she told how she helped her to make some difficult decisions following her shock diagnosis last year - such as ignoring the "hardwiring" that was telling her to put her dancing first against all the odds.
Speaking on our Invite Only Sara said: "I spent a lot of time with her at the start of the cancer diagnosis when she wasn't feeling positive. She'd been dealt a bad hand and she was struggling with it.
"I knew then I needed to be the friend that was filling her tank, but also if you just want someone to give you a hug and tell you it's gonna be okay, I'm not the one to go to.
Dragons' Den star Sara has been close to Amy (pictured) since she took to the ballroom in 2021 (Daily Mirror)
Sara was paired with Aljaz Skorjanec (Darren Quinton/Birmingham Live)"I was the one who was like, ‘What's the plan, Amy?’ and pushing her to make difficult decisions. She wasn't sure if she was going to have chemo so we talked about that.
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"What I've realised with the dancers is that from being little, they are hardwired to dance. And the biggest blow for her was: 'If I don't go down that route, I won't be able to do Strictly this year.'
"I had to look her in the eye and say: 'Amy, you've got cancer. They've literally just cut your boob off. They are telling you you need to have this chemo to get better. Don't worry about dance and Strictly.'
"Her response was: 'But they might not want me back next year.' So I said: 'Amy, you're amazing at what you do, of course they will want you back. You're so well-loved. Please, it's really important. Get well.' And then she went on the show without her wig as well. What a phenomenal moment. When I saw her, I cried."
Sara Davies (r) has revealed how she helped Amy Dowden (l) during her cancer battle (Amy Dowden/Instagram)
Sara is back in her Dragon's Den chair for the hit BBC show's latest season (BBC Studios/Simon Pantling)"She is a lot more positive now. She's on the road to recovery. But I can tell you, her focus is already on: 'When do we start training for next year's Strictly?"
While Amy's focus is back on the ballroom, Sara is back in her Dragon's Den chair for the hit BBC show's latest season, alongside Peter Jones, Steven Bartlett, Deborah Meaden and Touker Souleyman.
And after six years on the panel, she says the group have developed a close bond - forged over multiple dinners at The Ivy, with fine wine and Amaretto Sours.
She went on: "I've developed my relationship with them not through time on set, but over dinner. Peter always sneaks off and pays the bill, because 80 per cent of the bill is the wine he drinks and he doesn't want other people to pay for his wine.
"I remember one night, I got my credit card out and I gave it to the server and I said: 'Under no circumstances do you let anybody else pay for this dinner.'
The Sunday Mirror's Laura Armstrong (l) and Nicola Fahey (r) with Sara Davies (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)"So all night he drank gin and tonics. Steven always fights for the bill with Peter as well, he's a bit like me. He doesn't drink much because he'll work out afterwards.
"I'll have a small glass of wine, so that I can be sociable. Deborah loves an amaretto sour in the bar when we get back. She loves amaretto to the point where I learned to make amaretto sours in case I had her round for dinner. Touker, God love him, if he has too many glasses of wine, we have to wake him up to take him home after dinner."
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This year's series also saw an addition to the panel, when Gary Neville joined the Dragons for a guest appearance last month. But Sara confessed that she had no idea what the football legend looked like before meeting him on set - and so didn't realise that 'that bloke in hair and make-up' was actually Gary, 48.
She laughed: "I'm embarrassed to admit this. I knew he was a football pundit and I've obviously heard of Gary Neville, but I don't know what he looks like. I've never met him in my life and I don't watch the football show.
"So I'm sitting in hair and make-up from 7am. The lads don't rock up until 9am because it takes me and Deborah a little bit longer. Then there’s this bloke in the corner in hair and make-up. I’m mouthing to my make-up artist Claire: 'Who's that? In the corner, who's that?'
"Claire's going: ‘Who? What guy? There's only Gary Neville here.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that's Gary Neville!’ She just couldn't compute that I wouldn't know who Gary Neville was. But actually he's just very normal.
"He's a dad (and) his kids are not overly dissimilar ages to my kids. He was so nervous about the business side, and you know, a lot of men, because there's so much ego, they don't want to admit that they're nervous. (But) there was no ego with him. We got on unbelievably well.. I text him sometimes."
Last year saw a massive high for Dragon's Den - with soaring ratings delivering the most successful series since 2011. But Sara admits that behind the scenes she struggled with feeling self-conscious. And as she approaches her 40th birthday in April, she said she is now far happier on camera than she has been for a while, after dropping a dress size.
She said: "Last year I spent the whole of the series pulling the jacket down and then pulling the skirt over because I didn't feel comfortable in my own skin. I was conscious I’d piled the weight on. I was running, but I wasn't fit and I wasn't healthy.
"I thought: 'I'm going to be 40 next year and I don't want to keep feeling like this'. So I just had a word with myself. I signed up for the Great North Run and went on a healthy eating plan and I started to see the weight drop off. The thing I know I'm buying the next size dresses down. I bought a size 14 dress the other day, and I felt great in it.
"I'm not a thin girl. I'm never going to be, I'm, I'm big boned, I'm broad shouldered, and I'm good with that. What I don't want to do is film another season of Dragon's Den or my new series, Making It, and feel rubbish about myself, thinking, ‘Oh my word, how am I looking here?' It's about being fit at 40."
Despite being excited for the milestone, Sara admits at the moment she has no birthday plans. And when we ask if her husband Simon might have a surprise up his sleeve, she bursts into peals of laughter.
"You haven't met my husband, have you? If you had, you would laugh at anybody suggesting that. He would have no idea where to start other - than telling my PA, ‘I think you should organise this’. He couldn't organise a surprise, he couldn't even keep a surprise!
"It's only a few months away now, I should really get on with this stuff. But life is very busy. I always say I have my family, my business, Crafters' Companion - and then I have a very expensive TV hobby."
Listen to Sara’s full interview on Invite Only on Apple Podcasts.