How old is Dan Walker? Strictly Come Dancing star reveals he used to cry in toilets during his BBC Breakfast days

BBC presenter Dan Walker was interviewed by Josie Gibson and Dermot O'Leary on their show ITV's This Morning on Wednesday, February 21, 2024. During the interview, the 46-year-old presenter told the hosts about his new stint on Classic FM, classical music, and his unique "Egg Club."

He also spoke about his days on BBC Breakfast and the time he spent on the show. This was what drew the most attention from viewers as the presenter went on to describe how sleep-deprived the show made him feel.

Dan Walker was the leading presenter of BBC Breakfast from 2016 to 2022. In the six years that he was on the show, he would wake up the nation to news and interviews, along with light-hearted segments. While the show got him a lot of recognition and fame, it also left him sleep-deprived, which he said, took a toll on him.

During his recent interview on This Morning, he spoke about how the early morning job made him sleep-deprived and in "full zombie mode."

"And also you get really emotional. By Wednesday I was like, end of the show, you are like, in the toilets just crying. Anything sets you off. Somone says something nice about your trousers and you are like, [fake crying]" the presenter said.

When Gibson asked him if he "had a cry in the toilet," Walker responded by saying that he didn't do it every day. He added that being sleep-deprived made him a "little bit emotional."

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BBC Breakfast's Dan Walker talks about professional life and the unique "Egg Club"

Dan Walker was born on March 19, 1977, and is currently 46 years old. The British television presenter, was born in Crawley, West Sussex. He hosted the BBC Breakfast from 2016 to 2022 and currently hosts breakfast shows at Classic FM and 5 News at Channel 5.

When he was asked by O'Leary about the new stint at Classic FM, Dan Walker called it a "strange old situation."

"It's a strange old situation because you get offered various things, at various points and you know I'm busy, I've got stuff I'm doing at Channel 5 at the moment whole Channel 5 team are watching this, by the way hello to the channel 5 team, they're very excited in the newsroom today," Walker said.

He then added that following this, Classic FM "came along" and offered him the chance to do the breakfast show. He noted that he took the job because "sometimes a job just feels right," stating that it was "too big an opportunity" to reject.

"I would hate to be in a situation [a] few years down the line when I'm listening to someone else do it thinking that would have been amazing to do so I'm sat here today very proud to be a Classic FM breakfast presenter," Walker went on to say.

The former BBC presenter then discussed his struggle with waking up early when he was doing BBC Breakfast.

"When I was doing BBC Breakfast, you know what it’s like, if the alarm goes off at 3am, that’s far too early, that’s like a flight to Spain but I get up now about 5.30am/5.45am, which is essentially a lie in." Dan noted.

Dan Walker also went on to discuss his time at Strictly Come Dancing where he was partnered with dancing pro Nadiya Bychkova. The two participated in the BBC Ballroom show in 2021 and ended up being fifth. Walker told the hosts that he was still close to the pro dancer.

As he discussed their friendship, he said that while Nadiya taught him to dance, one of the things he promised to teach her was golf, "at some stage in her life." He promised to teach her the sport as she "always wanted to play golf" and he loved golf and it helped him relax. He added that the dancer is learning to play the sport.

Dan Walker, who has "President of #EggClub" mentioned in his X bio, explained the same to the hosts Josie Gibson and Dermot O'Leary.

"So, a few years ago on social media, it's another one of these stupid ideas... but it works um I just started judging people's eggs and they'd send me their pictures of poached eggs and I'd say no that's not an acceptable poach egg," Dan said about the "Egg Club."

He continued by saying that he began making up "silly rules" and that "at the peak of its powers," around 400 people sent him pictures of eggs over the weekend. Dan Walker went on to say that he even had people coming up to him in the street showing him pictures of their poached eggs and asking what he thought about them.

Dan Walker's #EggClub has multiple tweets and reposts on X with many people still sharing images of their poached eggs and asking for his opinions on them. The former BBC presenter is currently back to breakfast presenting for Classic FM before which he presented the evening news on Channel 5.