Strictly's Kevin Clifton was rejected from the the show twice

While Kevin Clifton is a mainstay of the Strictly Come Dancing line-up, it turns out it took him a really long time to get a spot on the show.

The professional has recalled earning his spot on the series, admitting that he actually got rejected twice before become a fan-favourite pro.

During an appearance on Strictly special documentary The Professionals on Friday (September 14), Kevin and former wife Karen recalled entering the show together… and how the latter proved more successful the first time around.

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"We had a couple of friends who were on the show already, and we were asking information on who we can get in touch with… But nobody wanted to give any information out," Karen recalled.

"I applied with Karen, she got the job, I didn't get it," Kevin added.

Anton Du Beke, who was chatting with Karen, then joked: "You're more impressive than [Kevin] – we've all said it for so long!"

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Kevin, who was conversing with Aljaž Škorjanec, then continued: "I had long, black hair, eyeliner, black fingernails… don't think that I'm your average ballroom dancer, guys!

"They said, 'We'd love to take Karen, but not that guy. We have no need for this gothic scarecrow who thinks he's the rock star of the ballroom.'

"The next year I went in and auditioned on the same day as [Aljaž] and Jeanette [Manrara] did. You and Jeanette both got the job, I got told no again. I got turned down twice."

He continued: "After that, I was like I'll take any work that I can take. And then they went to film the trailer for the show that year. The idea for the trailer was that all these Strictly stars will be dancing with an invisible partner, whose it gonna be?

"That invisible partner was me. That was me in a morph suit carrying all the Strictly pros about, but I've been rubbed out of the trailer. And the about two or three days later was when I got the call to say, 'oh, we can have you on the show'."

Well, better late than never, we suppose.

Strictly Come Dancing 2019's first live show airs on Saturday, September 21 on BBC One.

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