Anton On Strictly And Cheek To Cheek

Anton du Beke has given a lengthy interview to The Scotsman about growing up, Strictly and his new stage show with Erin - Cheek To Cheek.

He has a calm approach with his Strictly partners, but one that works for him and them: "I do drive them. Driving them is not about shouting though or being unpleasant. Driving is about knowing what you've got in front of you and knowing how far you can push. I always think you get more from people if they're having a lovely time because then they want to be there. I don't want anyone to dread coming into the studio."

He was gutted to leave Strictly so early this year as it took the fun out of the series: "After that, I would just turn up, do a dance and leave. You could do that in your sleep. That's not the special bit of Strictly for me. It's the experience of going through it with somebody."

On Cheek To Cheek: "There'll be nothing about it that's Strictly – no judges, no celebrities doing their best. It's going to be Erin and I doing what we do. We're going to have a wonderful orchestra, a wonderful singer and there's the world champion salsa dancers, Chris Marques and Jaci Spencer. They'll do a couple of latin numbers and we'll do a couple of group dances. I'll be doing a bit of chat. It's going to be lovely."

It's worth reading the whole thing, as the interviewer gives a nice commentary on their meeting. Funny how newspapers send female journalists to interview Anton. And he usually wins them over...