ON THE COVER Getting To Know…
Brendan Cole
◆ My tour is a night of what people love and would come to expect from Strictly. There’s every genre of dance and music. It’s called Brendan Cole All Night Long and it’s important to me that everybody who comes along – young, old, male, female – has a really exciting night. I want everybody to go home beaming. The best way to describe it is like An evening with… but it’s a massive production. We have 21 musicians and dancers and there’s comedy, chat and backstage anecdotes from Strictly. I’m really proud of it. ◆ Fatherhood has made me a lot softer. I’m an emotional person anyway, but being a parent brings your emotions to the fore. I watched a movie the other night about parents who lost a child and I blubbed through most of it. ◆ I’ve never been afraid to speak my mind. It’s really important for me to look after my partner on Strictly. Strictly Charlotte Hawkins was getting a hard time from the judges. I think she was actually doing really well. She may not have been the world’s best dancer, but she needed encouragement. ◆ I’m still agile; dance keeps you fit, but one day it will be hard. It’s certainly harder than when I was 28, although I’m better at it now in many ways. I try and look after myself. I’m not the healthiest eater. I eat good food, but I’ve just had a bag of crisps. I’m not per fect. ◆ If I wasn’t a dancer I might have been a builder. I used to build houses right from when I left school. I really enjoyed it; I like hard labour and hard work. When my dancing career ends I’d like to develop property.