BRUNO TONIOLI

BRUNO’S extravagant moves and colourful metaphors are a highlight of Strictly.

Having worked as a dancer and choreographer for Tina Turner, Sting, Sir Elton John, Duran Duran, The Rolling Stones and Boy George, his CV is like a who’s who of showbiz. Bruno, 61, is still in hot demand. He picks up £500,000 on top of his £250,000 Strictly fee for judging the US version of the show, Dancing with the Stars. He is so famous in America that he has been made into a Sesame Street puppet. Bruno grew up in Italy with his bus driver dad Werther and his mum Fulvia, who stitched car upholstery. His sexuality was never discussed in his strict Catholic home and Bruno left Italy at 18 to join a dance troupe in Paris before making London his home.

He is less talkative off camera and says: “The Bruno you see now is nothing like the guy everyone sees on the show. I can go a week sometimes without talking to anybody – anybody.

“And my favourite holidays are the ones I spend on my own.

“Bruno the judge is a persona that Young Bruno and, left, with Elton in the I’m Still Standing video

has developed over the years and is related to what Strictly is – it’s glam, it’s energetic. It is one side to my personality. But we all have different sides to us.”

He has a partner of six years, Jason Schanne, but says: “I always sleep on my own.

“I can’t sleep with somebody else. Always separate bedrooms, bathrooms and closets. I’m very individual and I want my own space.”