Strictly Come Dancing legend admits show was ‘brutal awakening’-Lucy Mapstone-Entertainment – Metro

Rev Richard Coles has looked back on his time on Strictly, calling it a ‘brutal awakening’ (Picture: BBC)

Reverend Richard Coles has claimed his time on Strictly Come Dancing was quite a shock to the system, labelling his exit as ‘brutal’.

The former Communards star and Church of England priest, 62, took part in the BBC competition in 2017, where he was partnered with pro dancer Dianne Buswell.

Sadly, he was the second to be eliminated in a particularly tough year that included the likes of JLS star Aston Merrygold, soap star Davood Ghadami, singer Alexandra Burke, and eventual winner, Holby City star Joe McFadden.

With the BBC’s Strictly back in the limelight thanks to the scandal-shrouded departure of dancer Giovanni Pernice, and with the series set to announce its new line-up in just a couple of months, Richard looked back on his time on the show – and perhaps not as fondly as he’d have liked.

‘For some unfathomable reason, I thought I’d be good at Strictly Come Dancing,’ he admitted.

‘I found out, simultaneously with 10 million other people, that was not the case. It was a brutal awakening,’ he added to The Times.

Rev Richard Coles and Dianne Buswell were the second couple to be eliminated from Strictly in 2017 (Picture: BBC/Guy Levy)

‘Being kicked off it was like being sent home from a party when you were a kid because you’ve wet yourself. Maybe people felt sorry for me, because they were nice to me afterwards.’

Richard made a name for himself by being the ‘novelty’ act on the series, but won over millions of viewers each night, particularly with his heavenly performance to the Eurythmics’ There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart).

In the new interview, Richard also admitted he is plagued by depression as it is ‘part of my make-up’ and also discussed how much he struggled after the death of his husband David in 2019.

Reverend David Coles died five years ago at the age of 42 following a long illness.

He told the publication: ‘The loss was too big to conceive of. I went a bit mad. It took a while to realise that I wasn’t really coping.

Rev Richard Coles’ husband David died in 2019 and he is still working through his grief today (Picture: Murray Sanders)

‘I see a bereavement therapist who says, “Everyone’s mad for at least five years.” Maybe I’m just coming to the end of the madness.’

Elsewhere, Strictly has been making headlines in recent weeks thanks to former star Giovanni, who was at the centre of a so-called storm after some made allegations of his celebrity dance partners of bad behaviour.

It was believed that Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington, who quit the show after five weeks last year, met with Giovanni’s former dancer partners Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh to ‘compare notes’ about their experiences with him on the show, and considered launching legal action.

Giovanni, 33, who starred on Strictly for nine years, was omitted from this year’s line-up of dancers announced by the BBC earlier this week.

He has defended himself staunchly against allegations of his methods of training, and rejected ‘any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour.’

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