Anton’s strictly secret trysts with Hannah
ON STRICTLY Come Dancing he has waltzed with some famously glamorous women, most recently model Jerry Hall. But off screen, Anton du Beke has been nothing but discreet when it comes to his private dancing partner.
Even when he shared Strictly judge Len Goodman’s wedding day this week, unmarried Anton, 46, was typically non- committal about his striking companion at Mosimann’s dining club in Belgravia, as well as ensuring they were not photographed together.
In fact, nimble-footed Anton has been quietly stepping out with the blonde beauty, a top businesswoman, for some time, I am told.
She is Hannah Summers, vicepresident of marketing in the UK for the international mobile messaging company Acision, which is responsible for half the phone texts in the world.
And over the weekend, I can reveal, Hannah and Anton enjoyed a post- Christmas break at Champneys health spa at Tring in Hertfordshire. The couple shared a suite for two nights, while in the neighbouring room was du Beke’s longtime professional dance partner Erin Boag and her husband, business consultant Peter O’Dowd.
‘They seemed to have a very relaxing time,’ says a fellow patron of the spa, where a suite for two with treatments for the weekend costs up to £1,708 and where regular guests have included Cherie Blair.
A day later, Hannah was Anton’s date for Len Goodman’s secret wedding to his long-term partner Sue Barrett. Neither Anton nor Hannah had any idea they were going to be witnesses to a marriage, as Goodman, 68, had wanted to keep it a surprise.
Ever since bursting on to the Strictly scene in 2004, dapper Anton has drawn a veil over his private life. And while he enjoyed the description of himself as a ‘straight man in a gay man’s body’, he has always maintained he is a genuine admirer of the feminine form. Last year, he ended a threeyear relationship with the daughter of a tycoon, who also prefers to keep out of the limelight.
I understand he started dating Hannah earlier this summer.
Born in Sevenoaks, Kent, he fell into dancing by accident at 14 when he picked up his sister from a dance class. He was at an allboys’ school and says a dance class full of girls was a ‘no-brainer’.
Whether he will follow Len down the matrimonial aisle, however, remains to be seen.