A Place in the Sun host Danni Menzies has revealed she receives “300 offensive messages” every time she appears on the Channel 4 travel show.
Danni exclusively told Entertainment Daily that while the show’s fans are, on the whole, amazing, there are some she has to “block and delete”.
The Scottish star’s first episode of the new series airs today (April 28), with Danni predicting viewers will “love it”.
She told ED!: “Since lockdown the ratings have been through the roof. Everyone needs that bit of escapism now and it can whet their appetite for when thy can travel again.”
What did A Place in the Sun host Danni say about the X-rated pictures?
After co-host Laura Hamilton revealed she’d been sent X-rated pictures, Danni revealed: “I’d be surprised if we all haven’t had that.
“It was one of the first things that happened once I got the job and it was pretty disgusting.
“I considered finding the guy’s mother on Facebook and sending it to her but I didn’t. It would’ve terrified her,” she said.
“It’s a funny one that people think they can do stuff like that – and they can be quite offensive,” she said.
I considered finding the guy’s mother on Facebook and sending it to her but I didn’t. It would’ve terrified her.
Danni revealed she’s got an “inbox of messages on my Facebook and Instagram” that she only looks at when she’s with her best friend or her sister “having a few drinks and they go let me have a look”.
She added: “I literally get about 300 every time the show’s on.
“They say: ‘Do you have a minute to talk?’ ‘Can I take you out on Friday?’ Just from Jim who’s 65 and I’m like really, really Jim? I never reply. Definitely not. Block and delete.”
Hiding her anxiety when she started on the travel show
Danni insisted such messages don’t affect her mental health, but she did open up about starting out on the show and feeling like she was “dying inside”.
The star has spoken about battling depression and mental health in the past and things appear to have come to a head for her when she joined the hit Channel 4 show.
Danni said: “I guess I hid it when it all happened.
“When I first started doing modelling or commercials I was always given these forms and one of the things you had to write was if you had been affected by depression or anything else to do with your mental health in the last three years.
“I always used to lie about it. It was always very much something I was very much trained to hide, so when I started on A Place in the Sun, I pretended it just was non-existent.
“For my first three shows I was dying inside. I was sick, I was sweating, I had all the physical symptoms of being unwell but it just was anxiety.
Read more: Laura Hamilton hits back at reports she wants to leave A Place in the Sun
“I very much tried to hide it and get on with it and my mentality has always been if you’re out of your comfort zone and it’s making you feel really bad just keep doing it.
“I think the more you do things the easier they become.
“At the beginning I did feel it a lot, but I pushed through it and it does become less and less and less. Now I don’t feel it at all when I’m working.
“I can really relax and have fun with it and enjoy it. But it definitely took me a little while to be able to feel like that.”
Danni praises ‘extremely supportive’ A Place in the Sun bosses
Danni admitted that she “didn’t want to” tell her bosses on A Place in the Sun, but it came out during a “long chat” over lunch and they were “extremely supportive”.
“I didn’t want to tell them. Sometimes when you talk about a problem you let it grow. For me, if everyone started talking about it and pandering to it then it would just let me get worse.
“So I was quite happy to keep it to myself.
“However, when I went out to lunch with the bosses we had a long chat and I ended up sharing it with them and they were really supportive.
“Ever since I told them, they have always checked in on me and have been extremely supportive. On that front they’ve been amazing since they’ve known.”
Danni’s future with Channel 4
It’s clear Danni loves working on the show but, asked where she sees herself in 10 years, Danni appears unsure if she’ll still be on A Place in the Sun.
“Oh gosh I don’t know. I love being on the show and if you’d asked me this before COVID I’d have said I’m not sure.
“But since we’ve all been stuck at home I’ve got a whole new appreciation of being able to travel with my job.
“I think in the long run I’d maybe like to do slightly less of it and have another show going on at the same time.
“Purely for the reasons that you travel so much for work it can be hard to have other normal things in your life like a relationship.
“So maybe doing a little bit less in the future and working on other stuff is definitely something I’d want to do.”
For now, Danni’s signed up and raring to go with filming the show till the end of the year, having been given a 12-month contract at the start of the year.
But she does have some ideas on her dream future role – and it would be a cross between Paul O’Grady and Bear Grylls.
She said: “I’m a big animal lover and my dream presenting role would be something like Pet Rescue, animal related.”
Danni added: “Or something that’s quite adventurous. I like doing risky stuff that scares the crap out of me. Like a cross between Paul O’Grady and Bear Grylls – that would be the dream.”
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Lee’s an ‘adorable cheeky chap’
On the subject of dreams, it appears gorgeous Danni has caught the eye of A Place in the Sun new boy Lee Juggurnauth, who presents his first show next month.
“How could you not love him?” Danni cooed.
“He’s an adorable cheeky chap and he’s got a little bit of something about him that I think everyone will love.”
Indeed, the new presenter hit the headlines earlier this month when he liked a cheeky picture of Danni’s bum on Instagram.
Read more: New presenter Lee Juggurnauth joins A Place in the Sun
Asked what she thought of his like, Danni laughed: “Wow. Oh I don’t know. That’s funny. I didn’t even know that. Oh wow, that’s funny.”
Danni is currently single, so does she think Lee’s about to make a move?
“No, definitely not.
“We’ve chatted a bit and I think he likes to keep his private life on the down-low.
“I think he’s just a positive supporter of everything. That’s hilarious,” she laughed.
Danni revealed: “For now I’m concentrating on getting back to London, getting my flat sorted and getting everything straight in my own life on my own for a while, which I haven’t done before.”
Catch Danni on A Place in the Sun today (April 28) at 3pm on Channel 4. The series continues every weekday on Channel 4 at 3pm.
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