Anton Du Beke confesses he ‘doesn’t recognise half the celebrities on Strictly Come Dancing’

Strictly Come Dancing’s dancer-turned-judge Anton Du Beke has confessed that he had no idea who Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri or vlogger Joe Sugg were when they first waltzed onto the Strictly dancefloor. As a professional dancer on the BBC show, Anton preformed with the likes of soprano Lesley Garrett, TV’s Kate Garraway and EastEnders star Emma Barton, but after swapping for a seat on the judge’s panel, he says he now doesn’t “know half the people who come on”.

Anton, 58, has been part of the show since it first aired in 2004, but failed to lift the glitterball in any of those 18 series, despite reaching the final twice. In a new interview, he reflected on how the celebrity line-up has changed over the years, revealing: “I don’t know half the people who come on Strictly Come Dancing. But they all turn out to be marvellous. For example, I didn’t know of Tasha Ghouri, but she was extraordinarily fabulous. I had no idea who Joe Sugg was either. In the old days of Strictly, we used to know everybody. “

Speaking to The Times, the dad of two said he could understand the natural evolution of the celebrity dancers, as the show needs to reflect the audience watching at home. “Strictly is not Love Island,” he added.

“There’s no point seeing gorgeous 25-year-olds dancing fabulously. We want the celebrity partners to reflect the people who watch the show. “

Liverpool-born comedian Chris McCausland, 47, is the current custodian of the show’s glitterball, after winning the 2024 series with pro dancer Dianne Buswell. He was the series’ first blind celebrity contestant, and he said afterwards that his win was not just “tokenism”.

“What we need more of when it comes to inclusivity is [to] show what guys like myself and many, many other disabled people have been doing – incredible stuff for years,” he said.

“Really shine a light on that in these entertainment shows, just on ordinary people, it doesn’t have to be a celebrity. I think there’s a hunger for it nowadays to be quite honest. “

In his latest interview, Anton, who lives in lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife Hannah Summers, said the Strictly team were conscious of producing something great after the bullying scandal last year, which saw Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima both leave the show.

He described the latest series as “best it’s ever been”, adding: “With all that went on in the summer, you think, “We’ve been going a long time now. Let’s have a look at ourselves and see what’s going on, and see if we need to do it like that. “

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Source: Mirror