Strictly's Anton Du Beke says kids 'burst into tears' as he issues rare family insight

Anton Du Beke admits his children "burst into tears" when they first saw him on the television. Anton, 58, made his name as a ballroom dancer before joining the cast of Strictly Come Dancing in 2004. At the time he was ranked 14th in the world for ballroom alongside dance partner Erin Boag.

While Erin remained on the show until 2012, Anton has become a Strictly mainstay. In 2021 he became a member of the judging panel, replacing Bruno Tonioli.

In 2011, Anton met his wife, Hannah at a party. Despite an initial rocky first impression, their relationship blossomed and they married in 2017.

They now share twins George and Henrietta together. Anton admits Strictly is "huge" in his house and that his entire family watches the show.

During an appearance on BBC Radio 2, the star said: "It's huge. It is wonderful. The first time my children, when they were very little, they saw me dancing on television and I was in the living room, and they saw me dancing on television and they burst into tears.

"They couldn't quite grasp the concept of me here and then there, who is this other woman in Daddy's arms. But the children love it.

"Hannah and her family have watched it for years. Long before I met her, so it's a massive part of the family."

Despite his family being a huge fan of Strictly, Anton says he has no idea who will be competing in the show this winter. He added: "I am going to be straight up with you, I don't know anything, I don't know a thing."

Anton has previously spoken about making a "terrible" first impression when he met wife Hannah. On the White Wine Question Time podcast, broadcaster Kate Thornton quizzed Strictly judge Anton on his attempts to grab his partner's attention.

Kate said: "Apparently the first thing she said to you was weirdo. Because you were hanging around outside a toilet at a golf club event to try and catch her eye, she thought you were odd."

Anton explained: "I'd seen her across the table and I went, 'oh hello', and I sort of dismissed it, and chat, chat, chat, nothing, nothing, nothing. But I saw across the table and she saw me, and did this thing that you girls tend to do, which if you asked her she'd deny, where she didn't look at me but looked at me, and did that thing with the hair around the ears."

Kate quipped that it was then Anton decided he would "lurk outside a toilet and show you what I'm made of". Anton recounted how Hannah got up after the main course and, on impulse, he followed her.

He explained: "If I'd given it half a thought, it would have occurred to me where she was going, but I didn't give it half a thought. She's not going outside, she's not put a thing on, she's not going to have a cigarette outside, she's not got a mobile phone, so she's not going to make a call, so there's only really one place you can go in a golf club outside of the dining room.

"Rather than sort of go up and say 'hello, good evening, how are you? Are you having a good night?' Anything, I sort of followed her until she stopped walking, but of course, she wasn't going to stop walking until she went into the ladies.

"Opposite the ladies was the men's. So it suddenly dawned on me where she was going, so I thought 'while she's there I'll go', so I nipped in, and of course men are always quicker, because girls have a queue, and then I came out and suddenly went, 'oh, I might have missed her now'. This is a disaster, I've missed my chance."

Anton recalls that Hannah exited the toilets just as he was "two paces away" and questioned if he had been "waiting outside the toilets" for her. Upon his admission, Hannah labelled him a "weirdo" before walking away, however Anton says he later bought her a drink, and the couple have remained together since.

Stars rumoured to be taking part in the show this year include former Love Islander Dani Dyer, Olympic hero Sir Mo Farah, BBC presenter and influencer Stacey Solomon, and Queen Camilla's son Tom Parker-Bowles.

Commenting on the rumours that double-Olympic champion Sir Mo could be competing on the show, Anton said: "He would be marvellous. He would be terrific, I haven't heard his name bandied about, but a terrific booking."