Du Beke wants to dance for pal Len
STRICTLY judge Anton Du Beke hopes to perform a special dance in memory of his friend Len Goodman when the show returns to TV later this year.
Anton, 56, will ask producers to allow him to dance in tribute to the legendary former Strictly head judge, 78, who died of cancer last month.
He said: “I know the whole company would like to do it, but I’d love to do something with maybe one of the girls and just do a dance as a sort of little nod for Len.
“I would like to do something for him with the ensemble. “He was a great guy.” Anton is keen to get out from behind the judges’ desk and onto the dance floor again for the next season.
He said: “I would like to have a go. I’d like to get somebody up – one of the pros – and do a number when somebody’s singing or something like that.”
Laughing, he said he is glad the public see him as a friend.
Lucky
Anton added: “Well I prefer that than the other where they go ‘Oh not him again!’ and they give you a swerve. It’s much nicer when everyone’s so nice.
“I’m very lucky. I do a lovely thing with Strictly and everything else. So I think by definition it all brings people joy.
“I love people and that’s what it’s all about… So it doesn’t matter what I’m doing, everyone’s a pal.”
He stressed: “I love meeting people and I love people and that’s what it’s all about. I treat everybody like a friend.”
Away from Strictly, he expects to be handed another season of the BBCTV show Anton and Giovanni’s Adventures In Sicily.
He said of fellow dancer Giovanni Pernice: “We’ve been friends for a long, long time and it was a really lovely time we had. I think it was more a show about a relationship – about him and me together.”