Brendan Cole has revealed he did have chemistry with Natasha Kaplinsky during her stint on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2004, but has denied they had an affair.
The 42-year-old dancer and the newsreader were plagued by rumours of an affair thanks to the dreaded ‘Strictly curse’, and now Brendan has firmly denied it.
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During an interview with John Bishop, he insisted the pair were ‘extremely close’ during their time on the BBC show, which saw the duo win the first ever series.
But Brendan has confirmed that their closeness was not to blame for his break-up with now ex-fiancee Camilla Dallerup.
“The chemistry was there, plain for all to see… I didn’t have an affair. Camilla chose to leave,” he explained.
“Camilla left me three weeks into the show, the night she got kicked off.”
Brendan’s latest comments follow on from an interview with The Daily Mail in February, where he stated: “I didn’t cross any lines with Natasha. I was single. Camilla had ended the relationship very early on in the series so what happened happened after that.”
He added: “It was a harrowing time — winning the show as much as my friendship with Natasha. On the other hand it was like, Holy Moses. It can ruin a marriage so easily.”
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Fourteen years later and Brendan is now happily married to British model Zoe Hobbs. The pair tied the knot in 2010 and live in Aylesbury with their five-year-old daughter Aurelia, and baby son Zante.
Strictly fans were stunned earlier this year when the father-of-two announced his shock exit from the popular dancing show.
Brendan believes the decision may have been made by the BBC based on his comments about new head judge Shirley Ballas, who replaced Len Goodman on the panel last year.
“I went, ‘I’d imagine she’s more likely to be wanting to impress us, I’ve been on the show 15 years, she’s just showed up’,” Brendan recalled.
“Of course Shirley has seen it and gone ‘you little [expletive]’,” and despite Brendan sending her a message to apologise, he never received one back.
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