Anton Du Beke reveals which type of Strictly contestant will ‘invariably do better’

Virgin Radio

30 Aug 2024, 14:12

Judge Anton Du Beke has explained why celebrities that start strongly on Strictly Come Dancing won’t necessarily go on to lift the Glitterball Trophy.

Joining the Chris Evans Breakfast Show ahead of the new series coming to the BBC this autumn, the professional dancer and author said: “What we have had over the years are people who have grown during the show. Rarely has somebody started really strong and gone up from there. They’ve invariably stayed about the same.”

He continued: “You don't have very long to train and to work on a number. So everyone has a natural ceiling, and it depends how quickly somebody reaches that natural ceiling. Once you've hit that, then it takes time to work on technique and mechanics in order to move on from that point. But reaching that point, the initial sort of ceiling, some people get there quite quickly and then never move on. Other people sort of grow to it. And the ones that grow to that point invariably do better on Strictly Come Dancing.”

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Saying “It's going to be a great year, 20th Anniversary. We’ve got a brilliant line-up,” Anton spoke about dancers having “the confidence to relinquish control in yourself and of the situation, in order to be able to receive the most.”

He explained: “This is very difficult to do, we think it's easy to do. I used to say to people when they used to come in for a lesson years ago, ‘Leave your inhibitions at the door, because we might get into places you're going to feel uncomfortable. But this is only, this is going to free you up and improve your dancing.’

“And the moment you can do that, which is a very difficult thing to do, is the moment you grow.”

Virgin Radio’s own Angela Scanlon was a contestant on last year's Strictly: 

Speaking more about being on the hit BBC show, Anton said: “There's two wonderful things about being a judge on Strictly Come dance. Well, three! One, being a judge on Strictly Come Dancing is wonderful. Two, I get the week off, really. And three, I get to make the final every year!

“But yes, I do get the time during the week to do other things, and I can go off on the road and do shows and prepare new books and stuff. So it's brilliant.”

Anton continues his ‘Showman: An Evening with Anton Du Beke’ tour in October, and his first ever children’s book, Code Name Foxtrot, was released yesterday. Set in London during WWII, it follows 10-year-old twins Harry and Rosie, who are evacuated to live with their great uncle on the Lancashire coast. “I would want to be the twins,” the author - who has twins himself - said of his protagonists. “I'd want to be them, exploring. That sense of adventure has always been the thing for me when I was growing up.”

He added: “And also, when I was growing up, there were only three channels on the television. So we would go out and we would ride our bikes, we would go climb trees. 

“Now, if you take that back even further, but there was no television, plus there was a war on. You go and explore.”

He told Chris: “I’m thrilled with it, I have to be honest, and the children love it. We did a book at bedtime. We did a chapter tonight, and they just loved it, which was all the confirmation I needed, really.”

Code Name Foxtrot is out now.

The Showman Tour begins in October. For tickets, visit www.antontour.com.

Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer this autumn.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.