Strictly Come Dancing winner Brendan Cole has shared some shocking secrets about his legendary co-stars on This Morning to celebrate the BBC competition’s 20th anniversary
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Brendan says Bruce could be horrible if slightly angry on Strictly
Strictly Come Dancing icon Brendan Cole has branded one legendary co-star as “very temperamental” and occasionally “horrible” on This Morning.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the BBC show, the ballroom dancer spilled some eyebrow-raising Strictly secrets from across his 13 years in the glitzy competition. When quizzed by host Cat Deeley on his “great memories” of Bruce Forsyth, Brendan revealed: “He was incredible off the stage more so then he was on the stage. His wit was so fast and so brilliant.”
However, he confessed that the “to see you nice” presenter could get hot-headed on the odd occasion. “Bruce was lovely to everybody, unless he was slightly angry and then he was horrible to everybody, he was very temperamental,” Brenden explained.
But the New Zealand dancer admitted that he “loved that” about Bruce, adding: “In production they would always say ‘Bruce is on set, calm yourselves down’ and I loved that. He commanded that respect and he earned it over so many years. He was amazing.”
It wasn’t just the Strictly hosts that were mentioned, as Brendan said the judges could be “vile” at times. He continued: “If you take Len for example, he was the ultimate judge. He knew exactly how to pitch it. He was either on your side and rooting for you even if you were rubbish or if you were getting too big for your boots, he would absolutely bring you down to earth.
“That was the beauty of him and he always did it with a smile. Even if he was a bit aggressive on the show, he would come up to you afterwards and give you a handshake.” Brendan was joined by Strictly’s Debbie McGee and couple Pasha Kovalev and Rachel Riley, who met on the show in 2013.
Later in the programme, host Ben Shephard hinted that Cat could be in the line-up for this year’s series of the popular show. As Cat confessed to “loving” the competition, Ben quipped: “And you’re up for this year’s as well which is really exciting.”
The 47-year-old quickly shut down any rumours of her involvement, as she said: “No, I’m not,” before swiftly moving on to welcome Christine Lampard from Loose Women.
It comes just weeks after Ben told judge Anton Du Beke that Cat would be “perfect for this year’s Strictly” in a previous episode on the daytime show. He declared: “Now she’s back and she’s ready and we think she is perfect for this year’s Strictly. Don’t you?”
Cat joked: “He’s [Ben] starting a campaign, there’s going to be T-shirts printed and everything.” However, Anton wasn’t so on board with the idea as he bluntly said: “I would be furious if you did it.” The dancer continued: “I have wanted you to dance with me for many many years but now you’d go and get one of the young ones who are firm to the touch.”
He added: “But you would be magnificent on the show I am sure.” Cat replied: “You have not seen me dance, I have no rhythm. I am completely inflexible. It’s no good.”