Strictly Come Dancing winner Karen Carney is over in New York with ITV working on the World Cup17:47, 12 Jun 2026Karen Carney says the two things she can’t live without whilst she is in New York for the world cup are rich tea biscuits and her gym kit. Karen revealed the pundits and ITV hosts - which include Roy Keane and Laura Woods - bond over gym time away from the cameras.‌Former Lioness and Strictly Come Dancing winner Karen said: “I like to train with the team, so every tournament there's a core group of us that train pretty much at least five or six days a week, and we go to the gym every morning, I've done that for the last three tournaments.‌"Now certain fitness people, they’ll come once and then we don't see them again, which is hilarious, but there's a core group of people and we go to the gym and we work out.”‌Karen also revealed she researches games up to two weeks before each match, getting info from scouting systems as well as watching dozens of games. She has seen hundreds in the run up to the World Cup.One England’s chances, ITV pundit Karen said: “That's the hardest thing, turning silver to gold. Just from my experience as a lioness, I know it's very different, but we made semi finals,‌“Tuchel has openly said ‘I might not take the best players, I want to take the best group’ so it'll be interesting.“You need luck, you need momentum and you need game changers. There's a lot of factors to win a major tournament. You have to trust his team selection.”“Outside of the top teams Portugal really impress me. I'd argue that you find a - I'm struggling to find a better, more equipped midfield anywhere in the tournament, really. So I am intrigued to see how they do.”‌Karen also told how winning Strictly Come Dancing helped rebuild her confidence in being a pundit on TV after facing cruel comments from trolls on social media in the past.She said: “It gave me a lot more confidence. It did give me that confidence to kind of relax into it. You learn about yourself as well, but I'm eternally grateful to Strictly.“Out aim was to have the best time and to deliver the best performances that we can control. And like, if people like us, great. If not, we just continue to try and be good people.Article continues below"You're never going to please everybody that's watching or listening or tuning in, and I think that's how I've been able to really manage a lot of things more so over the last year or two, or even couple of years, is that my team are my priority, and as long as they're happy with me, then you know I feel like I'm okay.”* You can watch the FIFA World Cup on ITV1 and ITVX.Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .