Sarah Cawood has revealed that she ‘face-crashed’ Declan Donnelly during an awkward kiss at the wrap party for the 2004 series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!
The TV presenter, now 53, ‘refreshed’ her lip gloss before ‘instigating a kiss’ with the ITV jungle survival show’s host, now 50, in a corridor after mistakenly believing he fancied her.
And although a then single Dec kissed her back, Sarah thinks he did so ‘to be polite’.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Suddenly Single podcast, Sarah recalled: ‘I went to cover I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! for This Morning when Katie Price and Peter Andre got together.
‘And there was a lovely big wrap party, and I fancied Dec. I remember thinking we’d make a lovely cute little couple because we’re both quite diminutive. And I thought he fancied me. I think I might have misread that!
‘Anyway, I’d had a glass, obviously; I refreshed the lip gloss. And I came out of the toilet, and he was going into the gents, which was beside it.
‘And I just face-crashed, what I would call a face-crash, which is when you instigate a kiss.
Sarah Cawood has revealed that she ‘face-crashed’ Declan Donnelly during an awkward kiss at the wrap party for the 2004 series of I’m A Celebrity …Get Me Out Of Here!
The TV presenter, now 53, ‘refreshed’ her lip gloss before ‘instigating a kiss’ with Dec, now 50, in a corridor after mistakenly believing he fancied her (Dec seen right on I’m A Celeb in 2004)
‘He did kiss back, probably just to be polite. And then as we pulled away, he just touched his lips and went, ‘Oh, you’ve just applied.’ Smothered him in lip gloss.’
The Live and Kicking host added: ‘He even vaguely reciprocated, and I got very excited.
‘I mean, this was young Sarah – one kiss, and we were married. Proper Bridget Jones. Honestly, I was an absolute disaster.’
Although Dec – who has been married to 47-year-old talent manager Ali Astall since 2015 – did not return her romantic feelings, Sarah admitted that in her ‘little head’ she picked out a wedding dress.
The star – who got hitched to Andy Merry in 2012 – even ‘face-crashed one of the groomsmen’ at ex-This Morning host Holly Willoughby, 45, and 51-year-old TV producer Dan Baldwin’s wedding in 2007.
Sarah added: ‘I was really quite drunk … I shoved him against the marquee, and face-crashed him, and then I took myself off to bed.
‘I realised it was time.’
It comes after last month Sarah called out the TV industry for its misogyny as she took a look back at the jobs she lost to other presenters.
The 90s TV star remarked that she repeatedly lost jobs when her male co-host left as she took to Instagram at the weekend with her ‘museum of failures’.
Sarah shared that on both Night Fever and Singled Out she was replaced as soon as her male co-host left.
In a passionate caption she penned: ‘This IS NOT A PITY POST! It’s just interesting to see what’s happened to me behind the scenes over the years and also: THE F*****G MISOGYNY!
‘EVERY TIME a male cohost left, I was told I had to go too!! WTAF?? That would never be allowed to happen now.
The star – who got hitched to Andy Merry in 2012 (seen together) – said that although a then single Dec kissed her back, she thinks he did so ‘to be polite’
‘I’m going through a huge box of old photos so expect lots more of these fabulous old photos! I’m having a jolly old trip down memory lane!’
Beginning at the start of her career she began: ”Got into the Royal Ballet School aged 17, got kicked out a few months later’ then ‘Got into Phantom in the West End. 9 months later my contract wasn’t renewed.’
In the next slide she revealed: ‘Did a new music show called Videoteque in ’96. Two series then I was dropped and replaced by Marguerita Taylor.’
Revealing she then lost her next job when her co-host left she continued: ‘Did NightFever for Channel 5: such fun! When Will Mellor left, they decided to replace me too. Apparently a woman can’t stay on telly if her TV OH leaves’.
In another she explained: ‘Covered IACGMOOH [I’m A Celeb] for This Morning the year Katie Price and Peter Andre got together. Haven’t worked for them since.’
Then came her Eurovision stint: ‘Did two years of Eurovision Semi Final coverage for BBC3 then was replaced by Caroline Flack (bless her).
‘Was invited back the year after (as Carrie herself said, it really wasn’t her thing), then Paddy and I were replaced for good’.
Once again let go with her male co-host she wrote: ‘Did Singled Out with Richard Blackwood: when he left to pursue his music career, I was told they would be replacing us both because again, how could I possibly carry on hosting without him????
‘Was replaced by Tess Daly and Marc Crumpton. The show was shelved after one more series.’
Meanwhile, earlier this year Sarah revealed how her gruelling cancer treatment destroyed her libido and said ‘that part of her life’ with husband Andy was now sadly over.
The TV presenter was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in August 2022 after doctors discovered a lump during a routine mammogram.
Sarah, who is now cancer free, then underwent a lumpectomy with sentinel node removal followed by radiotherapy and long-term hormone treatment.
She explained that following her diagnosis, she was forced to stop taking HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) which she’d been prescribed for the menopause, and as a result her libido ‘disappeared overnight’.
‘It can feel like everybody is having the best sex of their lives but that part of my life is gone and it does make me feel really sad.’
Sarah married TV producer Andy in 2012 and together they are parents to son Hunter, 13, and daughter Autumn, 12.
She went on to tell The Sun: ‘It’s a massive loss to us both but we make sure we keep an open dialogue because it’s important to not brush these things under the carpet.’
While not being formally diagnosed, Sarah said she believed that she was also suffering from Vaginal Atrophy which can make sex painful, another factor negatively affecting intimacy with her husband.
‘Basically, it can feel like there’s something in the way of any sort of penetration, and it hurts like hell.’
