TV

Anton Du Beke responds to reports he’s leaving Strictly

He shared a final dance with his partner Ruth Langsford on Loose Women

Strictly Come Dancing star Anton Du Beke has enjoyed one last dance with his celebrity partner Ruth Langsford, as he pledged this series will not be his last.

Langsford and Du Beke were voted off the show at the weekend after losing out in the dance-off to Paralympian Jonnie Peacock and his partner Oti Mabuse.

Read more: Strictly viewers furious over Bruno’s comments to Ruth Langsford

But the professional dismissed reports this series would be his last, telling ITV’s Loose Women: “No, never, never, never, never, never.

“Even if they don’t ask me back I’m still turning up.”

He added he was disappointed the duo got the boot when they did, saying: “I was very, very disappointed because I thought you had more weeks in you but it’s so final.

“When they go ‘thank you very much, we don’t want you anymore’, that’s it, you can’t just creep back into the studio because it’s the end. They pull the rug out from under your feet.”

The pair also reflected on their dramatic fall at the end of a Paso Doble earlier this month, when they lost their footing and Du Beke fell backwards before Langsford clambered on top of him.

She told the show: “I was trying to cover his embarrassment that he was the professional dancer that had fallen and not me. I thought ‘I will just get on top and just cover him so that he won’t be embarrassed’.”

Du Beke added: “It was a beautiful moment, I loved it.

“And as I’m lying on the floor, suddenly the room went a bit dark. I thought ‘oh, you’re going to hate watching this back’.

“There is a lovely photograph from the end of the room, of us on the floor, my arms are out like this and all you see are my feet.”

Read more: Anton Du Beke hits out at Strictly judges

The pair also danced together for the last time, with Du Beke taking Langsford for a spin around the television studio, while the Loose Women panellists held up panels to give them scores of 10.


Carena Crawford
Associate Editor (Soaps)