Fiona Philips with Brendan ColeFiona Philips with Brendan ColeFiona Philips has spoken out to defend herself from those nasty 'crap shag' aspersions dance partner Brendan Cole has been casting.

Brendan called the GMTV presenter "the worst partner I've ever had".

And he's reduced her to tears with his histrionics, culminating in him accusing her of a "lack of passion" and shouting: "You'd make a crap shag, love."

But speaking to Closer magazine, feisty Fiona, 44, decided to fight back. "If Brendan thinks I'm a crap shag, he can ask my husband," she said defiantly.

"He's been with me for 10 years so he's not complaining!" But she admitted, "I think Brendan thought he was going to get another Natasha when he got me."

Brendan, 29, and BBC Breakfast presenter Natasha Kaplinsky won the first series of Strictly Come Dancing after showing an on-screen passion that was rumoured to extend beyond the dance floor.

Soon after, Brendan called off his engagement to fellow Strictly dancer Camilla Dallerup.

But in the second series Brendan reduced dancing partner Sarah Manners, of Casualty fame, to tears - and now he's done the same to Fiona.

Fiona admits she seems to have two left feet. "It's very hard to act erotically when you don't feel it," she told Closer.

"I put my heart and soul into this competition, but the dance moves just haven't come naturally to me. I'm sure Brendan's fuming he got landed with me."

Fiona certainly is working hard. She's at GMTV at 4am each morning, and then heads to a dance rehearsal at 10am for four hours.

Whilst her efforts may not be rewarding her in the dance contest, they've helped her drop a dress size, from 10 to eight - baby weight she hadn't managed to shift after the birth of second son Mackenzie, three.

That's something hubby Martin Frizzell will be happy about in the bedroom...