Anton Du Beke on why this series of Strictly is now a nightmare to judge

Anton Du Beke is having the time of his life on Strictly Come Dancing and reckons this series of the BBC show is the best yet. Maybe. Or at least one of the best.

Speaking at GH Live, Good Housekeeping’s annual festival of food, books and celebrity talks, Anton reckons this series will go down as one of the greatest in its 20-year history.

“I’ve enjoyed it this year. It’s been an amazing series. The best, ever,” he said. “They always seem to be the best ever, but it is.”

Not because everyone is the best dancer, Anton clarifies, but because the competition is so close from this point on.

“People talk about the standard being incredibly high every year. It’s always been good, but what we like is when it’s even and good, which it is this year,” he reveals.

All of which makes this series an “absolute nightmare” for the judges to call from now on. Good luck in Blackpool, Anton!

“Last week, we had nine couples and, up until that point, the dance-offs have been easy to judge. We’ve had some in there that weren’t so strong and people that were high up the leader board. But last week was the moment in the series where we went: ‘Okay, this is going to be a nightmare from this point on.’ Because someone who’s great and could have easily made the final is going to go home,” he said.

Anton with GH editor-in-chief Jane Bruton

“Last week it was Shane [Ward], who was super-duper, and the judges were split two and two. And Wynne [Evans] got the nod. But if we’d judged it 20 mins later, it could have gone the other way.”

Sit tight for the rest of the show, because the fans are going to be divided by the outcome from this week onwards.

“It’s close and it’s going to be like that for the rest of the run,” Anton said. “And people are going to be disappointed. [They’ll say:] ‘I can’t believe you voted for him over him.’ But that’s great because that’s how it should be, and I love it.”