BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty made a surprising revelation in May when speaking to Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson on the Her Spirit podcast, revealing that she had taken up swimming despite previously hating it!
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Louise steered the conversation towards Naga's sporty ways, saying: "What I've loved about you over the last couple of years is watching how adventurous you are, and the things that you've learnt. Shall we start with swimming? You've been learning to swim, haven’t you?"
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Former Strictly star Naga bounced into action, and was delighted to talk about her newfound love of the sport, revealing that as a child she was a "rubbish swimmer".
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© Photo: Getty ImagesNaga is known for her sporty ways!
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"So I was a rubbish swimmer at school, I hated it. For so many reasons I hated swimming," the journalist began.
"I hate the cold. So I hate getting into a cold bath, basically. Why would you do that? And also there was that thing, when you're a kid, and you're pre-pubescent and you're going through puberty and you're exposed in a little swimming costume, and you're really conscious. And I just hated everything about it."
The 45-year-old explained that it hadn't helped being surrounded by kids who were adept swimmers, having been given lessons by their parents.
"And those days when you were learning to swim, you were thrown in, and there were always the kids who had been taken swimming by their parents, and I never had been. And my parents don't swim very well."
Naga even shared a hilarious anecdote about her time in the pool as a child, telling Louise and Annie that she'd cheated during her 50 metres test!
"I think I got my 50 meters. And I did it all on my back, and I remember I cheated. I did actually touch the side."
© Photo: Getty ImagesNaga wowed in the Strictly ballroom in 2016
But after a holiday to the Caribbean with her husband James, everything changed for Naga as she discovered that she was too weak to swim to shore during a windy day at sea.
"A few years ago, my husband James and I went to St Lucia on holiday. And I windsurf. So [I] went out windsurfing, and it's really windy in St Lucia, and I got out and I couldn't get back in. I wasn't strong enough to swim back in," the TV star explained.
But it wasn't until Naga revealed live on air that she was a terrible swimmer that everything changed.
"Funnily enough I was on [BBC] Breakfast, and we were talking about John Legend, and he'd taken swimming lessons at the age of 40. And we both sat there, and live on air I said I'm not very good at swimming."
The next thing Naga knew, Swim England were offering her lessons!
"So Swim England got in touch and said we'll work with you if you want, so James and I did it together, and I was just a flailing thing.
"And then we had lessons. We had lessons together, and we had a brilliant teacher, Holly, and she tapped into our competitiveness so that’s how she got us going."
© Photo: Getty ImagesNaga's journey is so impressive!
These days, Naga is something of a mermaid, adding that she'd even been told by one of her teachers that her posture was so perfect she could have been a synchronised swimmer!
"So now I can do front crawl, and I'm quite elegant. Biggest compliment I got was from one of the teachers who said that if I was younger, shed have got me into synchronised swimming because I'm a pretty swimming."
Way to go, Naga!
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