BBC Strictly Come Dancing favourite, Anton Du Beke has been axed from the show as a professional dancer. Anton has been with the popular series for 18 years in roles of both dancer and judge, but he will no longer appear as professional dancer.
During his An Audience With... tour, Anton confirmed that he wasn't returning to the show and revealed the reason why. BirminghamLive reported that at the show on Thursday, May 5, Anton made an announcement. He said: "In the early days I would be down the front. It would be nice. We had things called grids where people were in position on the floor and then suddenly you would go back another line.
“Then they started putting you in the corners and then the tattoos started arriving and everyone with tattoos was down the front wearing a vest. It got to the point where I was back here. I was so far back at the end I was chatting with Lance in the orchestra.
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"I did not mind not doing the group dances in the end. If I end up having to dance with somebody again, we hope not, I am going to tattoo my routine on my chest. It seems as if everybody is tattooed these days. If you are going to come on Strictly Come Dancing you have got to have a tattoo. Most of my partners could not keep time anyway.
“I just used to let them go off and I ended up following them by the end of it. Sometimes on the show you get some songs and you look at the dance and you think, ‘These two don’t come together.’ I danced for 18 series on the show with partners and 18 years standing in front of another person wondering what I am about to do next.”
