Anita Rani speculates she would have made Strictly final 'If I didn't have a brown face'

Anita Rani has speculated she would have made it to the final of Strictly Come Dancing "If I didn't have a brown face".

The Countryfile presenter competed in the BBC celebrity dancing show in 2015 paired with professional dancer with Gleb Savchenko and was eliminated in the semi-final.

Rani, 43, told the Radio Times: "I still find myself wondering whether I would have got into the final if I didn't have a brown face.

"There are various points in my career where I wonder what would have happened if I was blonde-haired and blue-eyed, and sometimes I don't think things would have played out the same way if I was white. I've put that Strictly question into my book to leave people pondering, because I'm just not sure."

The Wanted singer Jay McGuinness won the dance reality show that year, with EastEnders Kellie Bright and Coronation Street's Georgia May Foote and news presenter Katie Derham as runners-up.

Rani was sent home by the judges following a dance-off with Derham - sparking outrage among her fans on social media. Derham said afterwards: "We both danced our socks off, she had better socks than me, admittedly, that night.”

The TV presenter decided to address the issue of her not making the final in her new memoir The Right Sort Of Girl.

But she admitted she was incredibly proud just to have taken part in the show.

Rani said: "I still rush excitedly over to the telly if there’s someone Asian on it. And that’s why seeing a brown lass doing all right on Strictly meant such a lot to Asian people.

“It’s a national institution, and you don’t see many brown faces on it, certainly not many that do well.”

She added: “Nobody is happy when they’re voted out, let me tell you. It doesn’t matter who you are, that hurts.

“I often think about doing it again. That would be great: going back and winning it this time.”