Dancing on Ice hopeful Brendan Cole vowed that he would never go back to Strictly Come Dancing as a dancer - but that he would return to the show on one condition.
The 45-year-old is best known for being one of the original Strictly cast members, when the show kicked off in 2003.
New Zealand-born dancer Brandan was at the helm of the show for 15 years and will go down in history as the first-ever professional to win the BBC show after lifting the Glitterball trophy with newsreader and presenter Natasha Kaplinsky.
He also made the final a further two times with Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Lisa Snowdon.
But in 2018, he announced he would be leaving after his contract was not renewed, and he claimed the BBC made an "editorial decision" not to keep him on.
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In a chat with Lorraine Kelly at the time, Brendan vowed that he would never go back as a dancer, as the job 'took over his life.'
"It's totally a part of my past now, I have had the most amazing year," he said on the ITV show.
"This has come at just the right time for me and I have had so many incredible opportunities which I wouldn't have otherwise had if I had have been on the show."
He also said that the only way he'd return is if he had a different job.
"Strictly takes over your life," he said. "If they asked, I wouldn't go back unless it was in another role.
"I would love to be a judge."
But it turns out that Brendan had actually applied for Shirley Ballas' role as head judge himself, but he didn't get it.
According to Daily Mail, he said: "I'll make no bones about the fact I would have loved that role myself. I didn’t get it. I wasn’t bitter about not getting it. I had a screen test.
"I walked out thinking I couldn’t have done it better than that, whatever happens, happens. I was disappointed but it was expected because I'm a dancer on the show. That was my job."
In a recent interview on the Loose Women panel, Brendan shared his thoughts on reports that Strictly is 'axing' Bruno Tonioli as a judge to keep Anton Du Beke on the panel.
He said the BBC should replace half of the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel and he put himself forward for the position.
When host Kaye Adams asked whether he would join the judging panel himself he immediately replied to say he would, pointing out that he was a judge on the New Zealand version of the show, Dancing with the Stars, for five years.
He said: "I enjoyed the experience. You never get voted off, which is always lovely, and you get to give the couples something they can bring back.
"That’s something that misses on the show for me on Strictly is the fact that you want to work on something for next week and they’re saying ‘Next time you do a Rumba do this’ but they’re never going to do a Rumba again. It’s giving them something they can take away."
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