I’ve not spoken to Bruno since I replaced him on Strictly panel, says Anton Du Beke as he addresses ‘feud’ rumours
STRICTLY’S Anton Du Beke says he hasn’t spoken to Bruno Tonioli since he replaced him as a judge – but insists he was not offended by the Italian’s jibes.
The TV favourite, 56, who has been on the show since the first series, was drafted in last year when travel restrictions ruled out Bruno’s appearance.
But when Anton returns to the BBC ballroom show in a couple of weeks, the glittering shoes he steps into will be entirely his own.
In his first interview ahead of the Strictly launch, Anton told how the news that he was to reprise his judging role was “a lovely result”.
The pair have not been in touch with each other, but Anton laughed off speculation of a feud, insisting he would have stood aside if Bruno, 66, had returned.
Anton said: “I always knew it could be taken away, however good I was on the judging panel. But I took the same attitude as I did when I was competing, which is that I can only control what I do.
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“Ballroom dancing is not first past the post — it is subjective, and you’re being adjudicated.
“So it doesn’t matter how well you thought you did. If your number doesn’t get called, there is nothing you can do.
“All you can do is be ready and do your best. I was pleased with my performance on the show.
“But I was only stepping in. If Bruno had wanted to come back, the bosses couldn’t say to him, ‘We don’t want you’.
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“If it had been the other way around and that had happened to me, I would have been really disappointed.
“So it would have been fair enough. It was his job in the first place, and I’d have gone back to dancing.”
Really? You wouldn’t have walked away?
“No.” Anton shakes his head: “To do what? I can’t think of anything better than being on Strictly.”
‘Just mucking around’
At one point in our interview, Anton admits he isn’t sure he would have “amounted to very much” if he hadn’t discovered dancing in a church hall in Kent aged 13.
And it’s hard to imagine a keener ambassador for the show which made the dad of two a household name 18 years ago.
But it took the Covid pandemic to open the door to the judging panel as Bruno was unable to commute from the US where he is a judge on Dancing With The Stars — the US version of Strictly.
I always knew the role could be taken away, however good I was on the judging panel. But I took the same attitude as I did when I was competing, which is that I can only control what I do
In the weeks after Anton’s unveiling as a judge for the 2021 series, Bruno joked in an interview with The Sun on Sunday: “Good for him. He needs the money.”
But when I ask about the jibe, Anton doesn’t miss a beat.
He said: “I think he was just mucking around. I can imagine him saying it.
“I think it looked more punchy than it was. So I didn’t get the hump over it at all. It actually made me laugh.”
You get the impression that no one could have rained on Anton’s parade at that particular point.
Asked if he has spoken to his predecessor since being appointed this year, Anton admitted: “I haven’t spoken to him. I haven’t spoken to any of the judges.
“It was all down to circumstance really. The situation with flying still isn’t ideal — we all know how many flights are being cancelled — and Bruno said to the BBC, ‘Listen, I can’t do both shows. Thank you very much and good luck’.”
But while Anton insists he was not worried about making the transition from teaching to judging, there was a learning curve involved.
He went on: “When I first got the job, I was like, ‘Yes, I can talk about the arms, the frame. I can talk about the origins of ballroom’. Then they tell you, ‘You have 15 seconds’.
“When you’re standing in front of the judges it feels like it’s going on forever, but when you’re on the panel, you realise how short it really is.
“I wasn’t worried about judging because I don’t lack knowledge or experience. It is the ability to be succinct. I didn’t know how I’d fit in all this wonderful knowledge.
“The producers never give us notes. All they ask is that we don’t get the show taken off air or ourselves cancelled. But what I do get is a lot of is this.” He lifts his hands at arms’ length and pulls them together. “A bit shorter.”
He adds: “When I went home afterwards I told my wife Hannah, ‘They want me to go shorter’, and she replied, ‘Oh, you’re better shorter anyway’.
“So much for my great soliloquy. Hannah has also said to me, ‘You know, not everything is lovely’.
“Note to self: Find another word.”
That small issue aside, Anton’s critiques clearly struck a chord with the millions of viewers, as he has been nominated for Most Popular Talent Show Judge at the National Television Awards — a first for a Strictly panel member.
He said: “I don’t have any real idea of what people think of me, because I swerve the whole social media thing.
‘Too much negativity’
“I’m the sort of person that if I have 2,000 people in a room, I’ll be more concerned about the one person not clapping than about the 1,999 who are. That’s just the way I am.
“Letters have been sent to the stage door in the past that have upset me. I don’t want to upset people.
“Right now, if I read something saying I’m a bell-end, I’m going to be mortified. Some people just laugh at it and hats off to them. But I can’t do that, so it’s better I don’t go anywhere near social media.
“I do worry about my children being exposed to that kind of negativity. But I also know that by the time they are older, there will be something else to worry about, because things can’t carry on as they are.
“There is too much negativity there, unfortunately.” Asked if he felt vindicated by the NTA nomination, he replies frankly: “I didn’t, because I wasn’t an impostor. But I was thrilled that people liked what I did, that it came across as I wanted it too. I was delighted.
“All the other judges I know who weren’t selected would have loved to have been selected, so I feel very proud. I feel honoured.”
Does he plan to mention it to his fellow judges? He grins: “If they get on my nerves, I might.”
The NTA winners are voted for by the public, with the results announced on September 15. And Anton, whose fourth novel We’ll Meet Again, is out in paperback now, said he would be overjoyed to win.
He smiled: “One of the first lessons I learned when I joined Strictly years ago was that it wasn’t about me.
“I came from the world of competition where everything was about me to one where I was dancing with a beginner and it was all about them.
“So wouldn’t it be ironic if the first thing I won from the show was actually something I did by myself?”
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- Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday, September 17, on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer.
- We’ll Meet Again by Anton Du Beke, published by Zaffre, is £8.99.
- You can vote for Anton to win Most Popular Talent Show judge at:
