Richard Coles says being on Strictly Come Dancing was ‘brutal’

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

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Richard Coles has recalled his experience competing on Strictly Come Dancing as a “brutal awakening” after discovering the level of his dance skills in front of the nation.

The writer, TV star and former Anglican priest took part in the long-running BBC dance competition in 2017 and was paired with professional dancer Dianne Buswell.

Unfortunately, his journey on the programme was cut short after three weeks as he was the second celebrity to be eliminated, after Holby City actor Chizzy Akudolu and her partner Pasha Kovalev.

For the three routines that he performed on the programme, Coles, 62, received scores of 14, 14 and 17 out of a possible 40 points.

In a new interview with The Times, the former Radio 4 Saturday Live host looked back at his stint on the show, and the experience of being “kicked off” early in its run.

“For some unfathomable reason, I thought I’d be good at Strictly Come Dancing,” he began.

“I found out, simultaneously with 10 million other people, that was not the case. It was a brutal awakening. Being kicked off it was like being sent home from a party when you were a kid because you’ve wet yourself. Maybe people felt sorry for me, because they were nice to me afterwards.”

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The BBC recently revealed its roster of judges and professional dancers for the series that will air later this year, marking the show’s 20th year on our screens.

After months of speculation about his methods with celebrity partners, Italian dancer Giovanni Pernice was confirmed to have exited the programme after nearly a decade and one win with EastEnders actor Rose Ayling-Ellis in 2021.

Elsewhere in the interview, published on Friday (14 June), Coles spoke about the shame he has over pretending he had HIV during the height of the Aids crisis in the 1980s.

“Pretending I had HIV was the worst thing I’ve ever done,” he said. “It was in the middle of the Aids crisis. I went a bit bananas. A lot of people did.”

While he did “correct the record as soon as I could, and sought the forgiveness of the people I had said that to”, Coles now looks back on his actions “with shame”.

The gay broadcaster also revealed that he thinks about those who didn’t survive the Aids crisis “every day. What they would have done, who they would have become. Those of us who survived it talk about it with great sadness.”