Ruth Langsford says ‘nobody believes me’ as she addresses Strictly stint after scandals

Ruth Langsford has reflected upon her 2017 Strictly Come Dancing experience with now-judge Anton Du Beke

Television personality Ruth Langsford has candidly discussed the emotional rollercoaster she experienced whilst participating in Strictly Come Dancing with Anton Du Beke, disclosing that “nobody believes me” when she speaks about the genuine challenges she faced beneath the sparkle and spectacle of the BBC programme.

Despite experiencing highs and lows on the dance floor, the Loose Women presenter stood by the series, acknowledging “it’s always very difficult when a programme is under the microscope”.

When questioned about the controversies that have plagued Strictly in recent times, including a partially substantiated complaint from Amanda Abbington regarding her 2023 professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice, the ITV host commented: “I think you can only speak from your own experience, and I had the best experience.

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“Everybody on the show that year, you know, seemed to love it. We all got on very well and it’s always very difficult, isn’t it, when a programme is under the microscope.

“I don’t want to comment about the things that have gone on, because I wasn’t there. So all I can say is, I had the best partner in Anton I could ever have had.”, reports the Manchester Evening News.

“It was the most wonderful experience, I’m so glad I said yes to it. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done in my life, I thought I’d have been good and I was rubbish!” Ruth explained the primary challenge she encountered was retaining the sequences that Anton had devised for their routines, as she disclosed: “I thought, ‘I’ve got the moves’, but it was so different because I couldn’t remember choreography.”

The former This Morning presenter said her demanding timetable didn’t assist matters at the time, as she went on to recount: “I’d be learning, and learning, and learning, and that would be the start, and then he’d show me the next section and he’d go, ‘right, from the top’ and I couldn’t remember it from the top.

“And Anton will back me up, because nobody believes me, I genuinely can say there was not one Saturday where I 100% knew my dance because I didn’t have enough time.

“I think there are people who maybe aren’t working, or that’s the sole thing they’re doing, but I was doing This Morning and Loose Women, so I never got to rehearsal till half past two in the afternoon, and you’re tired.

“And Anton and his wife, they’d just had their twins – they were babies, and so yeah, by seven o’clock I was just like, cross-eyed and he said to me, ‘right, you need to go home now’, because when you’re that tired, nothing’s going in.

“I wasn’t that person that did 10-12, hours of rehearsals a day because I couldn’t, and it was fine, and I just accepted that and I did what I could.”

Despite finding the choreography particularly challenging to master, Ruth was eager to praise her partnership with dance partner Anton, who secured a permanent position on Strictly’s judging panel in 2021.

She revealed: “I think the best thing was my friendship with Anton, we laughed and laughed, and he was so kind to me. I always want people to know that, Anton’s such a laugh – he’s laugh, laugh, laugh – but he’s the kindest man.

“And there were times… I was always bursting into tears as the show went on, because it gets hard, and everyone’s so good, and then I would feel really rubbish because I would think, ‘I can’t do it’. And he’d go, ‘you’re fine’. I felt like I was letting him down, but he never criticised me, he was just fun.”

Describing how their enduring friendship developed, Ruth continued: “He and I have a very, very similar sense of humour, so we could laugh our way through stuff and he was so kind, and I loved the crew and the team, and I know everybody says that – it sounds like such a cliché – but it’s absolutely true.

“And it’s a phenomenal team – the choreographers, the professional dancers, hair, makeup, costume, everything, the set, the band – it’s just a phenomenal show and I hope it lives on, and on, and on. And I’m sure it will, because the public love it. It only gets better every year, in my opinion.”

Ruth’s remarks follow the BBC’s apology to former contestant Amanda Abbington, in which they acknowledged some of her complaints, including verbal bullying and harassment, against Giovanni Pernice, but absolved the professional dancer of the gravest allegations of physical aggression.

Former Strictly professional Graziano Di Prima was also dismissed from the show following accusations of misconduct and kicking his partner Zara McDermott during training, for which he has since expressed regret.

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