Jane McDonald has revealed she put on more than half a stone in weight for the first time while filming on a cruise for her TV series.
The singer and presenter of Channel 5’s Cruising With Jane McDonald said that she normally manages to avoid gaining weight during filming by missing either lunch or breakfast, but that overall she does not “want to be on a diet on a cruise”.
McDonald, 56, told the PA news agency that she took part in a “foodie cruise” for one of the episodes of the new series, adding: “That is the first cruise I’ve put about eight pounds on.
“I ate my own body-weight on that cruise.”
She said she normally tries to “cut myself down” when on board a ship, adding: “If I have a breakfast, I don’t have a lunch. If I have a lunch, I don’t eat breakfast. I don’t eat everything that I could eat on a cruise.”
However, McDonald added: “I eat a lot of salads when I’m at home. But when I’m away, I’m away.
“I don’t want to be on a diet on a cruise because I want people to see what they can have.
“If I’m going, ‘Oh no, I can’t have that’, then what’s the point of going on a cruise? So, I have a taste of everything, no matter what it is, just so that people can see everything about it.”
In the new series of the Bafta-winning show, the Yorkshire-born star travels to the Great Lakes of America and Canada, the Mediterranean and the Danube.
The entertainer, who shot to fame on fly-on-the-wall BBC series The Cruise in the late 1990s, said she is not too concerned about burning out from her upcoming hectic work schedule, which includes two arena shows and work on her other TV series Jane And Friends.
“I have got bundles and bundles of energy,” she said.
I'm so excited that series 7 of 'Cruising With Jane McDonald' will be aired on Channel 5 later this year, followed by a special Christmas episode. And that's not all – next year Cruising with Jane McDonald returns for series 8! @channel5_tv #cruisingwithJaneMcDonald pic.twitter.com/nhgCSg7iGZ
— Jane McDonald (@TheJaneMcDonald) October 25, 2019
“If I’ve got nothing to do, I’m dangerous and I’ve already planned next year. Next year is already full.
“I don’t give myself time to be ill or poorly or think, I can’t do that, I’m just thinking, ‘I’ve got all that next year, how fantastic is that?.’”
She said that her friends tell her “all the time” to slow down, but she added: “But then they’ll say, ‘Can I have tickets, can I come and join you?’
“I’ve always been quite lively, and I’m a workaholic without a doubt.
“And while I can do this and while I’ve got the energy to do it, why am I going to stop? When I can’t, I’ll stop.”
Cruising With Jane McDonald returns to Channel 5 from Friday November 29.