Len: Strictly speaking they’re not celebrities
IF YOU struggle to name some of the celebrities in the new Strictly Come Dancing line-up, take heart: Len Goodman doesn’t recognise them either.
The former Strictly head judge, who has stepped down from the job after 12 years, says the modern definition of celebrity is rather broad.
“Totally honest: some of the celebrities we had on the show I didn’t actually recognise at first,” he said. “There are so many now. So many celebrities.”
The contestants unveiled so far for this year’s series are actors Davood Ghadami, Gemma Atkinson and Joe Mcfadden; singers Mollie King and Aston Merrygold; television presenters Ruth Langsford and Simon Rimmer; and the Rev Richard Coles, vicar and host of BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live.
Goodman, 73, left Strictly in December and told the Radio Times he did not feel a pang of regret when he walked out of the studio for the last time.
“No I did not, because I had a wonderful time doing Strictly,” he said “I got such a wonderful farewell. I would much rather have, ‘Oh, we’re going to miss you, Len, you’ve been great on it’ than, ‘Thank God he’s going!’”
But Goodman has not retired: he is hosting a family game show, Partners in Rhyme, which begins on BBC One this Saturday.
In the interview, Goodman was also asked to rate the Tory and Labour leaders. He said he would not vote for Jeremy Corbyn: “You vote for who’s going to help you the most. Obviously I’m not going to vote for Corbyn. Because of Strictly I’ve earned a few bob. So I’m certainly not going to vote for someone who’s going to stick up income tax to 60 per cent, or whatever he’s whittling on about, for anyone who’s earned over 70 grand.”
His score for Theresa May’s election campaign? “I couldn’t give it much. Maybe a three or a four. It was a tango – jerky, sharp. It lacked content, [there was] poor technique and absolutely no personality or performance skills.”