CITV host Danielle Nicholls reveals she secretly snogged a pop star and had a cheeky romp with a footballer in the dressing room after the show

Danielle Nicholls has revealed her secret brutal antics in CITV’s dressing room.

The presenter, 43, launched her career on the children’s channel in 1998 when she was just 19 years old, alongside the likes of Stephen Mulhern and Holly Willoughby.

In light of the news of the channel being shut down after 17 years, Danielle has revealed her wildest behind-the-scenes memories.

Speak with The daily starshe said, “I remember when I was only 19 years old and I was on CITV kissing a pop star in the dressing room.”

She added: “It was quite brutal, but I did even more than that with a footballer. The good news is that I ended up marrying him, so that was okay!’

Danielle married former footballer and Charlton Athletic manager Dean Holden in June 2006.

Discussing ITV’s decision to close CITV in September, she expressed her sadness and said it would affect the discovery of new talent.

Danielle said, “It’s really sad that they’re taking away kids’ TV. There’s all these really famous presenters that came out of it, Ant and Dec, Cat Deeley, Andi Peters.

“I think it will have a domino effect on television in general. At Kids TV you learn your trade, you learn the trade and you make natural progress.’

Before launching as an exclusive channel in 2006, CITV was the brand used to broadcast children’s afternoon shows, and was first used in 1983.

The channel has been home to iconic shows such as Jungle Run, The Worst Witch, and Art Attack.

But now ITV has moved its entire range of children’s programming to its new streaming platform ITVX Kids, which launched in July.

Craig Morris, Managing Editor of ITVX said: ‘We are very excited to launch this special destination for kids on ITVX, which will be home to a wealth of content including new series, recognizable brands and existing favorites for a range of ages. in one child-safe space, with editorial management to guide viewing.’

In explaining their decision, the ITV bosses revealed that the average number of broadcast minutes of children’s TV channels watched by 4-15 year olds per week has fallen by 62% since 2019.

Ratings on streaming numbers are up 30% over the same period.

ITV has confirmed that the platform will feature a range of brand new shows, as well as classic episodes from nostalgic series such as Bob the Builder and Mr Bean.

However, ITV will continue to offer the LittleBe pre-school segment and will offer some early morning children’s content on ITV2 from September.

Since its inception 17 years ago, CITV has been home to shows including Dave Spud and Horrid Henry’s animated shows The Rubbish World.