Anton Du Beke has made an awkward confession about celebrity contestants who appear on popular dancing competition,Strictly Come Dancing.
The 58-year-old has appeared on every series of the show since its inception in 2004. Over the years, he’s judged a variety of contestants including the show’s latest winner, Chris McCausland.
The 47-year-old comedian from Liverpool made history as the first ever blind contestant to compete on the popular dancing contest, and lifted the Glitterball Trophy along with his professional dance partner Dianne Buswell in December.
However, Du Beke admitted that he’s stopped recognising the celebrities that go on the programme.
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“I don’t know half the people who come on Strictly Come Dancing,” he told The Times.
“But they all turn out to be marvellous. For example, I didn’t know of Tasha Ghouri [last year’s runner-up, and known for her stint on Love Island], but she was extraordinarily fabulous.
“I had no idea who Joe Sugg was either [YouTuber and 2018 finalist].”
He added: “In the old days of Strictly, we used to know everybody.”
Du Beke compared celebrities on the dance contest to those on reality shows as he explained: “Strictly is not Love Island. There’s no point seeing gorgeous 25-year-olds dancing fabulously. We want the celebrity partners to reflect the people who watch the show.”
The show has been plagued by scandal and controversy over the last year as Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima were axed amid investigations into their behaviour.
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Pernice denied allegations of abusive or threatening behaviour towards Sherlock star Amanda Abbington. The BBC upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made, and issued an apology to Abbington.
Speaking about the show’s difficulties, Du Beke added: “Strictly 2024 was the best it’s ever been. It was excellent.
“With all that went on in the summer [allegations of misconduct], you think, ‘We’ve been going a long time now. Let’s have a look at ourselves and see what’s going on, and see if we need to do it like that.’”
Commenting on McCausland’s win, the dancer and judge said the comedian was “brilliant”.
“It was extraordinary. I take my hat off to Dianne Buswell, who did the most remarkable job. I look at them and think, would I have thought of doing that? Probably not.”
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