I didn’t want fans getting sick of me

LEN Goodman has admitted he wanted to leave Strictly before fans grew sick of him.

The head judge, who will bid farewell to viewers in a Christmas Day special, said: “I’d much prefer to leave the show with people saying, ‘Oh, what a shame Len’s going’ rather than, ‘Thank heaven he’s off’.”

And he added: “All my friends are in Portugal playing golf and saying, ‘Len, do you want to come with us?’. I have to say, ‘No, I’ve got to do Strictly’.”

The 72- year- old has also revealed that the death of his father, also called Len, made him want to embrace retirement.

He said: “My father died when he was 79, which is only seven years away from my age now. Although I hope to live until I’m 99, I need to have more me time.”

As speculation over who will replace him rages, Len said the hit BBC series had a happy future – one he had predicted from the start.

He said: “I knew after three weeks of the first series that the BBC was onto an absolute winner and here we are, 12 years later, and it has gone from strength and strength.”

And the former ballroom champion admitted the show had “changed his life”.

He said: “I had never done TV before so I didn’t know if I would be any good at it.

“And because of Strictly, I have been able to do other little projects I have enjoyed very much, so it was a real gamechanger, it’s been wonderful!”

As to his show highlights, he said of newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky winning the first series: “I remember she kept saying how nervous she was.

“Yet it was wonderful to watch her as the weeks went along and she started to embrace dancing. It became a joyous experience for her.”

And Len admitted writing off series 11’s eventual winner, model Abbey Clancy, at the start. He said: “I didn’t think she would be that good because she was tall and might be a little ungainly – but she was. She was a beautiful ballroom dancer and it was the same year Natalie Gumede was on.

“It was such a battle. You weren’t sure which was going to win it and it was full of wonderful moments. I love all that.”

Len recently filmed a waltz as part of a special farewell group dance. He will continue to judge the show’s US version, Dancing With The Stars.