Former contestant and professional dancer lifts the lid on his reality show experiences
He reached the Dancing On Ice final alongside skating partner Vanessa Bauer in 2022, but as this year’s competition heats up, former contestant Brendan Cole has shared why he believes the skating series has evolved since his last appearance.
Speaking exclusively to online casino Betway, Brendan reflects on the differences between Dancing On Ice and his former BBC show, Strictly Come Dancing, where he was a professional dancer from 2004 to 2018.
According to the reality star, Strictly ‘pushes the boundaries more’ compared to the ITV skating series.
Despite his admiration for the BBC One show, Brendan insisted he’ll never return to the ballroom floor following his shock departure in 2018, as he also opened up about the intense challenges of competing week after week
In a new interview with Betway, Brendan Cole reveals:
What do you make of this year’s Dancing On Ice?
The show is the same format, they haven’t really changed anything. I thought they might try and change the format and make it a little different to what it has been in the past. The contestants and pros this year have had a lot of issues, and a lot of injuries. We’ve already seen everything, so there needs to be more excitement somehow. They had a headbanger performed the other night but that’s not actually that challenging, it’s more about momentum than skill. I want to see groundbreaking stuff so maybe they need to find contestants that can achieve that. When I watch the choreography, I think there’s something missing, something that Strictly has. Strictly has maintained a high standard and pushed boundaries. The quality of dancing on Strictly is better now than it was in my day. That’s potentially why it maintains such a high audience. Even the judges on DOI are too lovely in my opinion. Personally, I believe they need some grit in there. The contestants have had enough training and could use the critique.
Do you think DOI needs to have stricter safety measures in place?
There’s nothing they can do, it is what it is. That’s the beauty of skating and probably what makes it so popular. If people knew how dangerous it actually was, they’d be shocked. It is ridiculous. On my first training day, I fell and concussed myself. It’s vicious.
Did you find being a professional dancer helped?
Being a pro dancer gave me an advantage from a performance point of view, and that’s possibly what’s lacking in the show this year. There seems to be a lack of performance, and people who are able to show the dance side of it. Being a dancer gave me an advantage and in my year, there were three of us with a dance background so it made for an exciting show. That’s what I feel is missing this year. Once you’ve got the skating part down, it becomes a lot easier. There is a certain knack to it. It’s still a hard skill to master and I definitely didn’t have it from the get-go but yes, the performance side of things helped.
You were paired with Vanessa Bauer on the show. What was your relationship like?
It was brilliant. We worked so well together. I think she’s the best skater on the show, and she was a dream pro to work with. She knows her stuff and she’s beautiful to watch. She choreographs so well and yet to her credit, she was happy to let me choreograph with her and I think we made a great pairing.
What do you think about the presenting duo of Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern?
It works. During my time on the show, Philip Schofield was off for a week and Stephen stepped in and I thought he was brilliant that night. But I want there to be a little more sophistication from him. Holly is very sophisticated, but Stephen could potentially tone it down as he’s always mucking around. I love his comedy and he has a great way of connecting with people live in the studio, but that is often missed on the telly.
Are you happy to see Holly back on our screens?
Absolutely. She’s part of the fabric of Dancing on Ice. She’s such a good presenter, and it would have been wrong for her not to return.
There were reports that some contestants were upset after being voted off early on DOI. Do you think contestants need thicker skins?
You give your heart and soul and every contestant has been training for months. It’s become a massive part of their lives and it’s important to them. When you take part in a show like DOI, you want to experience the whole show. I can relate to that emotion with Dancing on Ice and Strictly as well. There are very few times when you’re voted out early that you feel relieved. It’s hard because you’ve given months of your life to something and you want to experience it right from the beginning to the end. For your partner too. It’s hard to leave when you’re not ready. You can almost feel bereft. Your adrenaline is also racing at that time of being kicked out and you may have made a mistake during the routine. The pressure is there and it hurts to be kicked out. On the other hand, sometimes you cannot wait for that final buzzer!
Were there times on Strictly when you were relieved to be voted off?
Oh yes. Not many. Even with partners I didn’t enjoy working with, I still wanted to succeed. But there were one more two that I was hoping for an early departure with! It’s well-documented who I’m talking about, so I’ll leave it at that.
Were nerves a big issue backstage on Strictly?
The hardest part of the job is keeping your partner mentally strong. Nerves can impact everything. I often found the VT that’s played before a performance would distract the celebrities who took part in the show. The VT may contain something emotional like a family member and suddenly their focus changes and they can lose their ability to perform. Most of my partners struggled with nerves. My first partner Natasha Kaplinsky was really bad for nerves. I had to talk to her non-stop before we went out and just try to distract her to keep her mind focused.
You have this bad-boy reputation. Does it still haunt you?
That reputation came from Strictly. It was mostly due to wanting to protect my partners who had been working extremely hard to achieve what they were able to. I considered it to be part of my job. I knew how hard Monday morning was going to be to pick them up after they’d been torn apart by the judges. But yes, I was lippy, and only 28 when I started. I was fresh out of a competitive environment and very headstrong. A bit of a d**k to be honest! I wanted everything and I was desperate to have success and prove myself. I had this bravado that I had to prove my worth and that lasted for a fair few years. I am genuinely a nice person to be around and I realised I had to tone down that sort of behaviour quite early on but more so when I became a father. I don’t want my children to look back and think that I’m an idiot and be embarrassed by a fool on the TV.
You’ve said before in interviews that while you were outspoken on camera, other pros were just as hot-headed backstage…
Yes, it’s an odd one. Amongst the Strictly pros, I was often the one leading from the front of many of the situations we faced. We would all discuss our issues together and then somehow I would be the one going forward with the message with the troops behind me. That being said, I was also often the one saving a situation and leading from the front in that way. If there was an argument going on, I would be the one to break it up. I often had a clear head and a good way of settling things. Unfortunately, I was often seen as quite outspoken (which I definitely was at times) but most of the time I was just the spokesperson for the group.
When you were on Strictly, did anyone take you under their wing and offer advice?
Not really, I had to learn the hard way. It was amazing to spend time with big names, like Sir Bruce Forsyth. He was an amazing person to be on the screen with because he was such an icon of television. I got to watch him work. He didn’t always behave brilliantly. He was a grumpy old man at times, especially when he was tired but he was the master. Len (Goodman) was the same, too. They could both be grumpy old men. With Len, there was always a good energy between us. I loved him. Even if it was a bit argumentative on the show, there was always a handshake and a bit of a wink at the end of it, which I loved. Mutual respect.
Gorka Marquez recently gave an interview where he discussed trying to strike the right balance between Strictly and his personal life. Do you think it can be done?
There’s a balance? It’s almost impossible. These big shows take over your whole existence. You’re in the studio by 7:30 am on a Monday morning, if not Sunday. For the pros, the show starts a month prior to going to air so the show is exhausting before it’s even begun. Once it starts you have the usual pressures of taking care of your partner, choreographing etc and then you have to fit in pro rehearsals for the big group dances, all of the filming week after week and all alongside training your partner for the live shows. All of that is on top of your partner potentially being down after a low score, and you have to pick them up and teach them. It’s so challenging and it’s non-stop. You’re away so much and family has to take a backseat. It’s a very challenging show.
Can we expect to see you on TV this year?
There’s nothing in the diary for TV but I will be in the theatre this year, and I will be back on the Pantomime boards at the end of the year in Darlington. It would be nice to do more TV. You can’t be on TV every day, people would get sick of you, but it would be lovely to do something soon as it’s been a while since my last big TV show.
Could you ever be tempted back to Strictly?
I’m the kind of person who would never say never. I could not do what Aljaž (Škorjanec) did, which was to go back as a dancer after being kicked off the show. For me, I’d hate to say no to something but regret saying it. I’m an optimist and open to seeing what happens. Stranger things have happened but I’m too long in the tooth to be a dancer on the show anymore. I did go back to the ballroom for the show’s 20th special and it was lovely to go back and see the old crew.