Alexander Armstrong will never sign up for Strictly because "it's very bad for domestic bliss"

The father of four, who is married to Hannah Bronwen Snow, has ruled out a turn on the Strictly dance floor.

"It's very bad for domestic bliss," he told an audience at Cheltenham Literature Festival.

"You're away every weekend, and the only time your wife would see you, you'd be dancing very closely with someone you're spending a lot of time with."

He hastened to add: "Nothing would happen, you understand? I'm not saying that. I'm just saying, 'What if, what if?' People would just be thinking that."

Armstrong's Pointless co-host Richard Osman claimed also to have turned down the opportunity, quipping: "Every year they do ask me. I always say to them, I don't have the time to do all the training and have the affair."

Armstrong is worried about more than the so-called Curse of Strictly, which has been blamed for marriage and relationship breakdowns when dancers and celebrities get too close in the training room.

With the show running all the way until Christmas, the comedian would be concerned about abandoning his family.

"Really, I can't think of a worse – I mean, what's Christmas going to be like at the end of that when you haven't been there?" he asked.

"Well I say that. I'd be booted out in Round One. I'd be back home I'm sure, long before."

As the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! rumour mill begins to turn, Armstrong has also ruled out a trip to Australia.

"No I wouldn't. With that, I wouldn't trust myself to be very nice if I was hungry and tired," he said.