ANTON Du Beke awkwardly avoided questioning on Strictly Come Dancing on BBC Breakfast.
The longtime star of the BBC dancing competition was put on the spot by Sally Nugent and Ben Thompson today.
Anton, 58, appeared on BBC Breakfast to promote his new children’s book, Code Name Foxtrot.
However, both the presenters couldn’t help but ask about the scandal that has engulfed Strictly Come Dancing.
The BBC launched a probe into the celebrity dancing competition after Amanda Abbington, 50, complained about her partner, Giovanni Pernice.
The Sherlock star recently claimed that Giovanni, 33, was ‘cruel and abusive’ to her on the show.
This was before Graziano Di Prima was sacked for alleged misconduct and he later admitted to ‘kicking‘ his own partner, Zara McDermott, 27.
But when Sally and Ben attempted to ask Anton about his verdict ahead of the 20th anniversary of the show, the judge had other ideas.
Ben said: “Let’s talk Strictly.”
However, Anton quickly changed the subject as he exclaimed: “Can we talk NTA’s?
“Expert category, [I’m] shortlisted,” he added whilst pointing to himself.
But Sally was quick to snap back as she interjected: “No, we’re in charge, hang on!”
After a polite back and forth, the trio did discuss the anticipated National Television Award category.
Anton was keen to note that he was nominated alongside legendary wildlife broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough.
However, he did eventually get onto talking about the show as he gushed about the history.
“I can’t wait for the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, it’s going to be brilliant. Can you even imagine, 20 years? The 20th anniversary, I mean it’s 22 series for goodness sake!” he said.
Strictly Come Dancing's scandal has been growing over the past few months, with several major players speaking out about what went on. Here are the key moments of what's happened so far
16th May: Giovanni Pernice sensationally quits Strictly Come Dancing after nine years on the show.
17th May: Giovanni becomes the centre of an official investigation after three former partners – believed to be Amanda Abbington, Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh – make complaints to the BBC.
16th June: Giovanni releases an official statement vowing to clear his name and denies any wrongdoing.
8th July: Strictly confirms Aljaz Skorjanec will return to the series, replacing Giovanni, after initially quitting the show two years ago.
10th July: Amanda Abbington launches fresh legal proceedings to get the rehearsal footage from her time with Giovanni, after allegedly he refused to release the videos.
13th July: Graziano Di Prima is axed from Strictly for “gross misconduct” after footage of his treatment of Zara McDermott is brought to the attention of the BBC.
Graziano quickly broke his silence, apologising for his behaviour in a statement and saying he “deeply regrets it”, adding his “intense passion and determination to win might have affected his training regime.”
15th July: Strictly bosses implement new duty of care protocols, including having a chaperone present throughout all rehearsals.
16th July: Zara McDermott speaks out publicly for first time. She states while the production team were “amazing to work with”, she found the rehearsal room “completely different”, confirming there’s footage of “certain situations”.
19th July: Anton Du Beke is put under the spotlight for his “1970s attitude” and treatment of female celeb stars, particularly after allegedly referring to 2009 partner Laila Rouass as a “p***” after getting a spray tan.
21st July: Paralympian Will Bayley, who has limb condition arthrogryposis, revealed he was encouraged to leap from a table during a dance routine, despite fears. The stunt caused an injury that forced him to withdraw from the show.
22nd July: MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace admits he broke down in tears and got a nasty stress rash on his face during his time on Strictly in 2014.
22nd July: Despite ongoing issues, the Strictly professional cast begin rehearsals for this year’s series.
23rd July: Celebrity agent Melanie Blake claims she was sexually assaulted by an unnamed pro dancer while backstage on the show, and claims she witnessed ageism, rudeness and a rough treatment to the point of injury.
23rd July: Strictly is forced to beef up security after ‘an intruder scales the wall of the rehearsal studio’.
23rd July: BBC boss Tim Davie breaks his silence on the ongoing allegations against Strictly, saying he is ‘deeply sorry’, adding: “Hundreds of people, be they pros, contestants or crew have been part of it and had a brilliant experience.
“At the same time if someone thinks there was something wrong or they want to talk about their experience then of course we want them to raise that with us. Be in no doubt we will take it seriously, listen and deal with it as appropriate.”
24th July: Strictly 2023 star Krishnan Guru-Murthy holds a bombshell interview with Amanda Abbington on Channel 4 news, where she claims she was bullied, with some of the ‘humilation being of a sexual nature’.
27th July: Laura Whitmore releases a statement regarding her Strictly experience, saying “I thought my experience was specific to me but I’ve since learned I was wrong”.
She adds she is not part of the official complaint, but has come forward to support Amanda with the BBC, alongside others.
28th July: Laila Rouass speaks out against the accusations regarding Anton Du Beke, saying she “never felt pressured” by him and “personally insisted on six to seven hours training a day”.
10th August: Graziano breaks his silence on his Strictly axe, saying “these vile, false allegations have ruined my life.”
He also told of the “shocking” end to his friendship with Zara McDermott.
We also revealed that Amanda Abbington was also quizzed for a second time as Strictly execs recruited 15 new staff to monitor rehearsals.
11th August: Just as the investigation was expected to conclude, Amanda made a dramatic intervention. Giovanni was on the brink of being cleared until Amanda handed in more text messages.
24th August: Graziano Di Prima called in top lawyers to sue the BBC and to try to clear his name. He recruited big hitters Whitestone Chambers to fight his corner.
A source said: “They’ve also looked at his BBC contract and believe there are grounds to sue.”
Meanwhile, the BBC also delayed releasing the findings of the probe into Giovanni Pernice. The Sun revealed that the results of the three-month investigation were unlikely to be announced in August.
“I feel very honoured for the fact that it’s only myself, Craig and Tess left from the very first show of the very first series. I love that and I feel very proud of that.
“I love the show and I feel very territorial about the show really, because I think it’s a brilliant thing.”
But Sally noted that he has been there for all the years as both a professional dancer and now a judge.
She described the last few months for the show as “torrid” amid all the backstage drama as she asked Anton whether he ever saw anything that made him “uncomfortable.”
It was enormously competitive then, I mean nobody knew we’d be going 20 years later.
Anton Du Beke
But keen to distance himself from any of the misconduct allegations, he replied: “No. But I can only speak for myself.
“The only time we are all together as a group is on the Saturday’s, so the live show day. The rest of the week you’re off [alone] with your partner.”
“That’s as much time as you have with everybody else, one day, so you can only speak about one’s own experience.
“I enjoyed my time as a professional dancer enormously. I had the most wonderful relationships with all my partners who I wouldn’t have changed for the world. All of them.”
Giovanni is loved up with Molly Brown now, but has dated many high profile beauties:
Giovanni Pernice split from fellow pro dancer Jowita Przystal in March 2023.
Pals revealed how the pair chose to end their relationship after falling for one another during the 2022 series of the Strictly.
Giovanni secretly dated Love Island star Maura Higgins for weeks before going public in July 2021.
But the pair called time on their romance four months later.
Giovanni also enjoyed a romance with Pussycat Dolls star Ashley Roberts.
They met after she took part in Strictly back in 2018.
Giovanni met Jessica Wright through her brother Mark Wright when he was on Strictly in 2017.
But after posting a series of loved up snaps on social media, they parted ways six months later.
Giovanni started dating Georgia May Foote in 2015 after they were paired together on Strictly Come Dancing.
But they split wight months later.
He added: “That’s as much as I can say, I can only speak for myself really.”
Sally then asked Anton whether the show has “got a bit too competitive,” as all the professionals want to win.
However, Anton revealed that competitiveness between the dancers is not a new thing.
“It was competitive then, I have to be honest with you!”, he exclaimed.
“I think back to those days, we were all competitive ballroom dancers who literally just walked off the competitive dance floor into the studio.
I feel very territorial about the show really, because I think it’s a brilliant thing
Anton Du Beke
Adding: “It was enormously competitive then, I mean nobody knew we’d be going 20 years later.
“We were there for Strictly, like ‘This is what we do, ballroom dancing and this is how it’s done’, so even in the early days it was competitive.”
This comes as the bullying and misconduct probe into the long-running dancing programme has been delayed.
The publicly funded corporation was previously expected to reveal its findings earlier this month after a three month review.
It has now been reported that the findings will not be made public until at least next week at the very earliest.
Giovanni quit Strictly after nine years in May and has denied any wrongdoing.
WITH Strictly's 20th anniversary special airing in September, The Sun takes a look at which celebs have been confirmed for the new series:
