Sian Welby reveals she 'burst out crying' after 'gruelling' 2.5-hour Strictly host audition left her drained and 'in shock'

Sian Welby has revealed she burst into tears after auditioning for the Strictly presenter job.

The This Morning and Capital Radio star, 40, was among the famous names asked to audition for the host role earlier this year, following Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly's departure.

Sian missed out on the job, with Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe making their live show debut as hosts on Saturday.

The star has admitted she had 'never wanted to impress so much' during the audition, but called the 2.5 hour secret try-out 'gruelling.' 

'It was mad. It was an absolute honour to be in the mix, but it was a gruelling process with no messing about,' Sian explained.

'I left the audition, got in the car and burst out crying. It was the adrenaline. I'd never concentrated so hard or wanted to impress so much. But it wasn't my time.'

'I really did want to show them I could do the job' she told OK! Magazine. 'But it was tough and I left going "I don't know if I've nailed that or if it was an absolute car crash." And afterwards, I almost had no memory of it. It was like being in shock.' 

Sian was one of a huge number of familiar faces to audition, with Zoe Ball, Clara Amfo and Sara Cox all since revealing they too missed out on the coveted job.

Sian is instead focusing on her sixth year presenting Capital Breakfast, alongside her regular guest hosting role on ITV's This Morning.

She also has her two-year-old daughter Ruby to keep her busy.  

In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Sian detailed the pressure of being a female breadwinner as she praised her fiancé Jake Beckett for always giving his 'support'.

She returned to work just three months after giving birth to Ruby, thanking her fiancé for enabling her to cut her maternity leave short.

'I think you can't do any of this without a supportive partner, or if you don't have a partner, you need a family member that helps you because it really isn't a one person job raising a baby', she said.

'You need that teamwork. My other half is a producer so he understands the industry and he gets that work is ad hoc - it can go as quick as it came.

'He's very supportive and we do tag team it together. Some days I'm pulling in a full shift because he's on a shoot and then other days he's doing it and I'd never feel like somebody's like not pulling their weight.

'I would say it's pretty equal in what we both do. He does mornings, I do pickups. When he's doing dinner, I'm doing bath time. All that kind of thing.'

Sian added that there is no way her family could survive on one income: 'I suppose it's hard. The world kind of isn't set up for it and yet I would argue that almost everyone's in the same boat. 

'There's not many couples I know where they're not both working and that sometimes out of pure necessity, that there's no way they could live without two incomes. 

'So I do think we're in a bit of a mess with it all in terms of I think a lot of people are struggling, even people that are going out and working with two incomes.

'Me and Jake have always been really open and honest about it. There might be times where you earn more, there might be times where they earn more. 

'The amount of couples where, you know, somebody suddenly has been out of work and then they become the breadwinner. I'm very aware that those things can change, that is the modern world. 

'My other half doesn't have any sort of problem with that or anything. He's got no chip on his shoulder about who earns what. We just crack on with it and I think you do have to look at it like that.'