Top 35 Anton du Beke Quotes

Ballroom is two people dancing together to music, touching in perfect harmony.

I like to get up and get out. Otherwise you end up kicking about, and it’s easy to flick the telly on; then before you know it, it is 11 A.M. and you haven’t done anything.

I’ve become a produce snob. I like to eat food that’s in season.

With the media how it is these days, people expect to know everything. I don’t talk about my girlfriend because essentially she doesn’t want to be talked about.

I got sent some cheese once. I’m not sure if that was saying something about my act, or just because I like cheese.

Life’s supposed to be an adventure, a surprise!

As I grew up, I wasn’t a great buyer of albums, but I really liked ‘The Jam.’ I like good musicians and loved the energy of their songs.

I want to do lots of exciting, varied, interesting things. That’s what I want to do.

I work out in the gym three times a week on top of my dancing, so I have to eat a lot to keep my weight and energy up: a big breakfast, and little and often throughout the day.

Too many multi-vitamins are packaged as one size fits all, but you should be more specific about what you need. When I was competing as a dancer, I took zinc for healthy skin and immune system.

It may sound cliched, but ‘Strictly’ is a real journey. I try to encourage my partner to stay in as long as they can, but above all to enjoy it.

I’ve never worried about being rich or famous – for me, it’s all about the dancing.

I hated most music in the 1970s, especially disco, but Bowie was edgier.

As soon as I left school at 16, I worked in a factory making aircraft components.

You spend your life having lessons, practising and competing as an amateur, and working during the day. As you get to the top end of the amateur field, you try not to work anymore; you earn your living through dancing, maybe by doing a bit of teaching. It’s an ongoing life’s work.

My goal is to be the best TV presenter, the best entertainer, the best singer. I still want to be the best dancer. I want to be the best at everything I do.

I’ve been playing golf as long as I’ve been dancing, since I was 13 or 14.

The worst question is, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’ I don’t know. Variety is the spice of life. That’s the best way to describe it.

‘Strictly’ is a bit like scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final or sinking the final putt in the Ryder Cup – only a few people get the opportunity to do it, and they have got to be famous.

Because we had no other relatives living in the U.K., me, my parents and my siblings continuously journeyed abroad to bond with our extended family.

I’m going for Britain’s Best Dressed Man award, but strangely, I’m never on the list.

Since being involved in ‘Strictly Come Dancing,’ my life has changed completely. I can’t walk down the street without women throwing themselves at me, I usually wouldn’t mind, but they are of a certain age. Hopefully, after this series, they will bring their daughters!

I don’t get grumpy at a ‘Strictly’ level, you understand. We’re just making a television show – the person I’m dancing with can’t dance; they’re doing their best, and we’re not going to win the World Championships.

Because we had no money when I was growing up, when I started dancing, I wasn’t allowed to be frivolous – my mum made me go to every lesson because she was paying for it.

The Fred Astaire movies made a huge impression on me.

When you dance together, there’s a fabulous interaction. It’s quite intimate. You’re touching your partner, leading them. Learning how to behave in that person’s proximity is a skill. I love it. I can’t imagine tiring of it.

I went professional with my partner, Erin Boag, 11 years ago, and we had success competing round the world, but appearing on ‘Strictly’ has changed my life.

We didn’t know anything about Judy Murray until we met her, but once we got to know her, we found she was an absolute scream.

Mum was always hard-working. She came over from Spain and bought her own council house.

My father is Hungarian and moved to Britain during the uprising, and my Spanish mum comes from Galicia; they moved here at the end of the Fifties.

My perfect morning is spent drinking coffee, eating porridge and reading the paper at a local cafe.

I’m busier than ever and it’s led to new opportunities. But I’ve never worried about being rich or famous – for me, it’s all about the dancing.

I don’t like the Samba; it’s nonsense. With a lot of these Latin dances I can’t really understand what they’re all about. I like the Rumba and the Paso Doble but the others I could take or leave.

I look better with a tan, but I’ve never gone the fake route. I don’t need to – I have good foreign genes: half Spanish, half Hungarian.

Being fit is the easiest part of being a dance professional. I used to just throw on a backpack full of rocks and run up a hill. You don’t even have to go to a gym.