KEV DANCES OFF GLOOMY BREXIT

KEVIN Clifton reckons Strictly has helped Brits cope with Brexit misery. This year’s champion, 36, thinks the show is more important than ever because there has been so much bad news in recent months.

He said: “With all the horrible stuff that happens, and the things you see on the news all the time, it is so important to just make people smile once in a while.

“Strictly is actually not trivial. Things like this are important so people can have the opportunity to just sit down and not have to watch horror on the news. They can watch something other than Brexit for a minute and just be made to smile for a couple of hours.

“That’s really the aim of it all. That’s what we’re all most proud of and what’s in our heads – we want it to be the most joyous thing on TV. That’s what Strictly does so well and that’s why it has lasted so long.

“People come up and say, ‘Thank you for how much joy you all bring, when there are lots of things going on in the world that aren’t as cool, Strictly is our one thing where we all sit down on a Saturday and we all just love it’.”

Kevin secured his first win last weekend alongside Stacey Dooley. Working with the documentary maker helped him realise how vital Strictly is for viewers. He said: “With what Stacey does for a living, she sees some quite horrific stuff and it’s quite serious. I jokingly said to her once that she does such important work and I basically shake my bum in a sparkly shirt for a living.

“And she said to me, ‘Why would you even trivialise that?’ because she sees how important it is for a show to make people smile.”