I will never they don’t
ANTON Du Beke is as synonymous with Strictly as the glitterball trophy and the camp video clips that punctuate each episode.
One of the professionals on the show since it began in 2004, the ballroom star has danced his way through 15 series.
He was tipped to take over from head judge Len Goodman last year when he bowed out of the series – but the muchcoveted job went to Shirley Ballas.
This year, during the Halloween special, the show made a lighthearted poke at another Anton anomaly - that he has never won a series of Strictly.
So, it’s unsurprising there is a low, yet constant, rumbling of speculation that he might be finally ready to hang up his dancing shoes and retire.
Following his recent exit from the current series, alongside TV presenter Ruth Langsford, those rumours gathered pace – but Anton brushes them off.
The 51-year-old said: “Everybody knows I’m not leaving. Whether they want me to stay or not is a completely different matter. But I’ll turn up anyway.”
Although Anton is one of the longestserving professionals on the series – alongside fellow mainstay Brendan Cole – it’s a TV travesty that he has yet to hold up the Strictly trophy.
The furthest he ever got was third place in the very first series, with opera singer Lesley Garrett.
He laughs, his chortle reflecting his good-natured attitude and charming demeanour, as he is probed over whether he thinks he can win the show.
“The viewers vote to say who wins, so we’ll have to wait and see,” he said.
Anton has become known for his fun-filled routines and doesn’t appear to mind the tag of “novelty dancer”.
He reminisces about the hilarious moment on the dancefloor a few weeks ago when he took a tumble at the end of a comedic paso doble with Langsford, who promptly climbed on top of him – to the surprise and delight of the audience.
Anton said: “Look at the reaction we got when we fell over. And look at the reaction we got when I whipped my trousers off.”
The last decade and a bit has been quite a journey for Anton and he never could have imagined back in 2004 where the BBC One programme would be now.
Regularly drawing in more than 10million viewers per episode and with a dedicated following across the country, it’s one of the most-watched programmes in the UK, year after year.
Anton reveals that he and his fellow dancers in the inaugural series “never thought beyond” that first outing.
Referring to himself, Brendan and their dance partners Erin Boag and Camilla Dallerup, he said: “We were competing in China then got the nod that Strictly was going ahead.
“When we got back from China, we did another competition the following week in Sweden, and that was it. We were into Strictly.
“We hoped it would be a lot of fun. For me, it was an incredible thing to be able to do, I wanted to