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Louise. Lou. Loulabelle. Loulabelle44. Louby. loulabelle44@outlook.com.
Proudly blogging about Strictly Come Dancing ALL YEAR ROUND since 2006. Always spoiler-free.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Arlene: "A Thank-you, A Farewell And A Finale For Me"

Arlene Phillips is looking forward to being a part of the Strictly tour, viewing is as a way to thank the fans who supported her after her axe from the programme.

The Daily Mail has a lenthy interview with her which is well worth a read. Below are just the highlights.

She told the Daily Mail that when she was dropped from the show, she decided she would not do the tour: "I directed the very first Strictly tour and there's so much of me in the show. So when Paul Roberts of Phil McIntyre/StageEntertainment asked me this time last year to do it, I agreed - without thinking what may happen in the interim. After the events of last summer, I'd decided not to do it. I really felt that I'd moved on from Strictly and that that part of my life was behind me. However, Paul never let up - he rang me every day to persuade me to do it. I absolutely adore Paul, as we have an extremely good working relationship that goes back a long way, so I felt a personal responsibility to him and to the tour."

It wasn't just Paul, but the public that demonstrated she should do it: "I got a measure of the public response only after all the hugs I started to get wherever I went. I was astonished when I got on a BA flight to the south of France and the whole plane cheered. Everyone kept coming up to me to make a fuss - it was the best flight I've ever had. I've found this support so overwhelming that I changed my mind and decided to do the Strictly tour after all, as a way of saying thank you to everyone - the fans, the public and the media. I feel like I want to give something back and the tour is my way of doing that."

Arlene's experience of this series was very different than the past: "I watched every single episode, as I was contracted to write two columns about it. But I turned the sound down when the judges were talking so I could write my own comments. I was completely emotionally detached from my old role and treated it as a job."

And who is Arlene backing on tour?: "Ali Bastian, I want to see her win this tour. She just needs to be told how to let the drama shine through. We have some fantastic couples and this tour is going to be really fiery."

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