LOUD&CLEAR

1. Channing Matthew Tatum was born on April 26 in Cullman, Alabama. His mother Kay was an airline worker, while his father Glenn worked in construction. He moved to Mississippi at the age of 6.

2. During his youth, Mr Tatum worked as an 'exotic dancer'. Videos featuring the GI Joe actor performing with his favourite G-string can be found online, if that's your sort of thing. "He was shy at first, but he really knew how to work the stage. The women went crazy for him," recalls a naughty nightclub owner.

3. Channing has no regrets about his days as a dancer, admitting that he wanted to talk about it with the media years ago. "It seemed like a fun thing to do at the time and I got out unscathed," he says. "It's nothing I'm ashamed of and I'm not proud of it either. I wanted to talk about it in the beginning of my career but my publicist wouldn't let me."

4. Anyone who has seen Channing without his shirt on can attest to his physical fitness. Apparently when he was younger, he was a dab hand at track & field, baseball, soccer and football.

5. How did Channing get his big break? Well, it was all thanks to Ricky Martin. Tatum's first screen role came in Martin's not-camp-at-all music video for 'She Bangs' (the not-so-great follow-up to 'Livin' La Vida Loca'). He was reportedly paid $400 for the cameo.

6. Tatum has claimed that he would be willing to reprise his talents as an 'exotic dancer' to perform a film role. "I've already got the director picked out. I'd like Nicolas Refn, who did the movieBronson, to do it because he's insane for it," he insists. We're sure there'd be an audience for it, Channing!

7. Channing may have been a big screen regular in recent years, but he doesn't always get the part. He was tipped to play Gambit in X-Men: The Last Stand and Genghis Khan in biopic Mongol: The Early Years of Genghis Khan. He was replaced in the latter by Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano.

8. During his time in modelling, Channing worked for clients as diverse as Armani, Abercrombie & Fitch, Mountain Dew and Pepsi. However, he admits that during his Abercrombie days, he used to sport a comedy chicken outfit rather than stand topless flashing his six-pack in the entrance way.

9. Working in films may seem like the most glamorous job in the world, but would you be willing to work on a movie where you might get your private bits burnt by boiling water?! While filming The Eagle of the Ninth, a crew member left Channing in agony over his man-bits. "They poured scalding water down my [wet] suit," he remembers. "And I was trying to pull the suit away from my body to somehow get away from the boiling water, and the more I pulled the suit away, the lower the water went. It just went straight down and pretty much burned the skin off the head of my d**k." Fortunately, Tatum's bits are now "100 per cent recovered" and "fantastic".

10. Channing displayed his talents for dance as Tyler Gage in Step Up and Step Up 2. But he doesn't think he'd stand a chance on Dancing With The Stars. "I would probably be the first one booted. I can't do that whole ballroom dancing thing. I don't even know how to do that... It's a lot tougher to me than hip-hop."

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Josh Schwartz explained that Leighton Meester's character will recover from her difficult time at university.

"Blair at NYU was like throwing a fish far, far out of water," he said.

"I think [this season] you'll see Blair with her power back, with her swagger back, back in her game, but still troubled by thoughts of Mr. [Chuck] Bass."

Schwartz added: "The Chuck-Blair relationship - whether they're together or not - will always be a huge drive to the show emotionally."

Gossip Girl returns on September 14 on The CW.