I’d Do Anything winner Jodie Prenger has already dropped from a size 16 to a 14 whilst rehearsing for the role of Nancy, but she is determined to go even further and fit into a pair of size 12 jeans.

However that’s as far as she wants to go, because Jodie is sure the public don’t want to see a skinny Nancy.

Jodie told this week’s Closer magazine:

‘No one wants a stick-thin Nancy – after all she’s described in the book as stout!’ she said.

‘She’s supposed to be curvy with a good bust. I’d always want to keep my 36DD boobs so I can do justice to my corset.’

‘I’m always jumping on and off tables, so playing Nancy is a good workout in itself’, she says.

Before competing on BBC’s I’d Do Anything, Jodie also took part in reality TV diet show The Biggest Loser on Living TV and, over six months, lost almost half of her body weight, dropping to 9st 9lbs and a size 10.

Now that she’s lost the bulk of her weight, Jodie says she’s the happiest she’s ever been: ‘At 18st, I put on a bubbly front, but underneath not an hour went by without me feeling miserable about my weight.

‘Only a fat person can understand that. I feel like my life began at 27 – when I first lost the weight – and it’s been a total whirlwind ever since!’

I’d Do Anything contestant, Rachel Tucker made her West End debut last night in Ben Elton musical, ‘We Will Rock You’.

Rachel expressed her gratitude to the BBC show which gave her the perfect springboard into the career she had always wanted.

Tucker told ITN: “It’s my first role in the West End, live in front of thousands of people, and I must say, I’m absolutely petrified. It’s very different to what I’ve done before.

“The programme for me was the perfect springboard. I was getting far in auditions [before the show] but just not far enough and it’s made me a household name now.”

We Will Rock You is showing at London’s Dominion Theatre.

I’d Do Anything star Samantha Barks has managed to land the lead role in the UK tour of Cabaret.

The 17-year-old, who finished in third place on the BBC reality TV show earlier this year, will play cabaret performer Sally Bowles in the popular musical.

Barks will appear alongside dancer and former I’m A Celebrity contestant, Wayne Sleep, who is taking on the role of the Emcee.

Earlier this month we reported that Rachel Tucker, who finished in fourth place had landed the lead role in Ben Elton’s West End show, We Will Rock You.

The search for Oliver and Nancy starts on BBC One this Saturday night and the shows host Graham Norton is promising fabulous things for this series!

“Every returning series says it’s bigger and better than the last but this truly is,” Graham told The Sun.

“I’m really excited about this year. The standard has just been terrific.

“This year is phenomenal and nobody has a fixed idea of who Nancy is.

“There’s a really broad range of ages, experience and looks.”

He added: “The big question is who’s going to steal the show – and my money’s on the Olivers.”

The BBC’s newest reality TV show, I’d Do Anything is due to kick off this Saturday night, and to get you in the mood for all those cute little Olivers, and buxom Nancy’s, we have put together ten facts that you might not know about Oliver the stage show!

1. Oliver! was the creation of British composer, playwright and lyricist Lionel Bart (1930-1999).
2. He had no formal music education and could neither read nor write music.
3. Oliver! first opened at the New Theatre (later the Albery and now the Noel Coward Theatre) in June 1960 and ran for more th 2,600 performances.
4. The show opened on Broadway in 1963.
5. Barry Humphries created the role of Mr Sowerberry in the original London production and reprised the role on Broadway.
6. In 1968, the film version of Oliver! was released, starring Mark Lester in the title role. In 1969, the film won five Oscars including Best Picture and five other Oscar nominations.
7. It was also nominated for eight BAFTAs in the same year, as well as winning two Golden Globes and being nominated for a further three.
8. In 1967, Oliver! was revived for the West End at the Piccadilly Theatre, where Barry Humphries starred as Fagin. He reprised the role in Cameron Mackintosh’s 1994 revival at the London Palladium, where the show ran from December 1994 to February 1998.
9. Oliver! has been performed throughout the world in 15 different languages.
10. In Food, Glorious Food, the boys dream of cold jelly and custard. But in foreign translations of productions, some of the local delicacies they long for are goulash soup (Hungary), meat pudding (Sweden) and huge cakes and pork chops (Poland)!

Actor, comedian, writer, satirist, painter and star of musical theatre Barry Humphries CBE joins Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber in BBC One’s new talent search show I’d Do Anything, it was announced today.

Following the runaway Saturday night successes of its predecessors How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, the new series – again fronted by Graham Norton – seeks to find brand new youthful stars for the roles of Nancy and Oliver for Cameron Mackintosh’s forthcoming revival of the much-loved timeless Lionel Bart musical, Oliver!

Humphries joins fellow panellists John Barrowman and Denise Van Outen when the series starts next month.

In a stellar career, Barry Humphries has met with huge success in musical theatre on both sides of the Atlantic and has long been associated with the enduring appeal of Oliver!

His first break on the British stage was as creator of the role of undertaker Mr Sowerberry in the original 1960 London stage production. He recorded Sowerberry’s feature number That’s Your Funeral for the original London cast soundtrack album, and went on to reprise the role on Broadway in 1963.

In 1967 he starred as Fagin in the Piccadilly Theatre’s revival, and subsequently reprised the role in Cameron Mackintosh’s award-winning staging at the London Palladium.

I’d Do Anything will begin next month on BBC One.