Stripping Off with Matt Haycox
Welcome to 'Stripping Off with Matt Haycox,' where we bare it all on business, money, and life. Get ready to peel back the layers of success with entrepreneur, investor, funding expert, and mentor with over 20 years of experience building and growing businesses, Matt Haycox.
Tune into steamy conversations with industry titans, celebrities, and successful entrepreneurs as they strip down their stories of triumphs, setbacks, and the raw realities of their journey to the top. Matt is going down on business, money, and life, and will take DMCs to new heights!
Stripping Off with Matt Haycox
BBC Strictly Come Dancing EXPOSED! Professional Dancer Reveals All!
Tell us what you like or dislike about this episode!! Be honest, we don't bite!
Get ready for an explosive behind-the-scenes look into BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing like you’ve never seen before! From the dazzling performances to the dark scandals shaking the show, I’m peeling back the glittery curtains to reveal it ALL!
Ever wondered what it really takes to survive in the cutthroat world of professional dancing? We dive deep into the gruelling training, financial sacrifices, and intense pressure dancers face just to make it to the Strictly stage! Plus, we expose the jaw-dropping misconduct rumours and fiery backstage feuds that have rocked the tabloids and left fans in shock!
But that’s not all—stick around as we uncover how these scandals might impact dancers' careers, and whether it’s all just part of the Strictly fame game!
From ongoing investigations to explosive showdowns, I’ve got all the juicy details you won’t want to miss. Hit that play now!
#StrictlyComeDancing #BBCStrictly #StrictlyScandals #BehindTheScenes #StrictlyRevealed #DanceDrama #StrictlyConfessions #ShockingSecrets #CelebrityGossip #BackstageDrama
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
0:21 - Rewind to the Beginning - How did it begin?
4:50 - What was the Weekly Training as a Teen?
7:02 - Dance Partner = Dance Marriage
8:16 - Funding Dance Lessons
10:16 - Transitioning into a Professional Career
15:26 - Mindset, Stress and Mental Health in Dancing
16:35 - Diet and Fitness
19:18 - How did Strictly Come Dancing come about?
24:46 - What is the Auditioning process?
26:09 - Dance Routines
28:27 - 7 Years of Strictly
31:05 - Stories from Strictly
34:47 - Discipline in Dancing Training
36:56 - Nerves During Live Performance
39:51 - Strictly Scandals
43:35 - Does Having a Bad Partner Affect Getting More Work?
44:36 - Post-Strictly: It Takes Two and Other Opportunities
51:47 - How did the Divorce affect you?
53:11 - Strictly in Australia
56:51 - Ant Middleton
01:00:01 - Fit Steps Programme
01:03:22 - Legends of the Dancefloor Tour
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Who Is Matt Haycox? - Click for BADASS Trailer
As an entrepreneur, investor, funding expert and mentor who has been building and growing businesses for both myself and my clients for more than 20 years, my fundamental principles are suitable for all industries and businesses of all stages and size.
I’m constantly involved in funding and advising multiple business ventures and successful entrepreneurs.
My goal is to help YOU achieve YOUR financial success! I know how to spot and nurture great business opportunities and as someone who has ‘been there and got the t-shirt’ many times, overall strategies and advice are honest, tangible and grounded in reality.
Professional dancer, choreographer, strictly legend.
Speaker 2:Ian Waite. Welcome to the show. Thank you very much. That's a nice entrance.
Speaker 1:Simple, but as long as it includes the word legend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, Actually you should say that I'm just about to start a tour called Legends of the Dance Floor, so it's quite appropriate, actually Perfect.
Speaker 1:Well, I guess we're going to be talking a lot about dancing, so let's, uh, let's rewind to the beginning and uh, and, and tell me how dancing came into your life and and how it all began yeah, I mean it's a.
Speaker 2:It's a funny story actually because, um, uh, it's when my parents got divorced, um great story you were so you were so happy you started to started doing a jig.
Speaker 1:No, my.
Speaker 2:My parents got divorced. I was, I was 10 years old and my brother was five, and my dad was told that there were lots of single women at the local dance school. So he thought, hey up, I'm gonna go along there because obviously newly divorced um, he started going to the local dance school and he loved it so much he was going four or five times a week. They had a social night. They would go for drinks afterwards in the pub. So he started to get to know everybody really well and he said okay, ian, I want you to go with your brother to like junior classes. And I said, dad, I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2:I was playing rugby and football. The last thing I wanted to do is go and dance, because I thought my friends would take the mickey out of me, to be quite honest. So he said okay, well, just take your brother, then your brother will dance and you'll just wait there and watch him. So I used to take my brother I think it was like a Tuesday early evening, like five o'clock on a Tuesday, and so my brother used to dance and I used to watch, and then I was there for about three weeks, got to know people, and then one day the teacher said right, ian, get up and do this. Gay Gordons, is that where it?
Speaker 1:all began, and that was it.
Speaker 2:And that was it. The rest is history. But yeah, I sort of I don't know whether it was straight away it was instant that I loved the dancing but I started to learn and then I started to do some competitions and in those competitions I started to win. Now I wasn't sure whether it was the competitive element that I loved because I was very sporty, or it was actually performing in front of an audience and getting them cheering for you and dancing in front of an audience, um, and that was it. I was, I was kind of hooked and I um, actually then my, my dad married my dance teacher, so so it was cheap dance lessons after that.
Speaker 1:Did you still keep up with the rugby and the other sports?
Speaker 2:I don't think I did. I remember at one point classes were on a Saturday morning and my dad had to write a letter to my PE teacher and he wasn't very happy. Ian won't be able to be in the rugby team or the football team because he's got dance class on a Saturday, and he wasn't very happy. Uh, ian won't be able to be in the rugby team or the football team because he's got dance class on a Saturday and he wasn't very happy. I think now the teacher's probably thinking, oh, he did all right, I suppose yeah, and when?
Speaker 1:when did you start to take it like very seriously? And when? When did you think this might become a career?
Speaker 2:well, from a very early age, um, my, my stepmother because she married my dad started to take me up to London to the top coaches in the world. I was probably 14, 15. And that was quite unusual because those top coaches the likes of Nina Hunt, bill Irvin, walter Laird, these were like the top coaches in the world. They never took youth, they never took under 16-year-olds, they were only taking adults. So to be taking me at the age of 14, 15 was pretty unusual. But what that did was I started to really get better really quickly and by the time I was 18, I was European champion. And that was all because I'd been going to those top coaches from the age of 14 and it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for my stepmother taking me up there.
Speaker 2:So when I won the Europeans, I was, um, uh, I kind of thought, okay, because I started my A-levels and and then I was like, dad, I don't want to do this, I, I can't, even you, you know it's not for me doing A-levels, I'm just going to concentrate on my dancing. I think, because I'd just won the European. He was like, okay, just concentrate on your dancing, you can work for me. Because he had his own precision engineering company, and so I used to basically run his office for him when I was there, because I was dancing competitions abroad in Germany and I was up in London having dance lessons all the time with the top coaches.
Speaker 1:Hey, matt, here just interrupting myself to say can you believe that 62% of listeners to this podcast don't actually subscribe? Now, I know you like it because you listen to it, you come back and the stats are great, but 62% of you don't actually subscribe. So make sure you subscribe, whether that's on YouTube, spotify, itunes, wherever you listen to your content or watch your content, and make sure that you never miss a future episode.
Speaker 1:Well, I was going to say, as a 17, 18 year old who I guess technically you know, would still be in in some kind of education at this point, how time consuming was it? I mean, what would a, what would a typical day or week look like in terms of training, competitions, travel?
Speaker 2:I would. I would probably train about four or five times a week, in the evenings a couple of hours, and then, yeah, for a couple of hours, and then in the daytime I would have probably two lessons in London a week in the daytime, so that would take me away from work, and then on the weekends I would always be somewhere, like representing England in the World Championships or the European Championships in Germany. I literally travelled from the age of 16 till I was 21. I went to every country there was. I went to Israel, I went to Finland, canada, uh, you know. Japan, all of these places, australia, um, representing england, uh. So it was an amazing time because, um, you know, I was doing what I loved and representing my country. So, um, by the time I was, I suppose I was 21, I was in the top six in the world in the adult, you know, because before then, when I won the European, it was like youth, I was under 18.
Speaker 1:And it was just a particular style of dancing you were doing at this point.
Speaker 2:Well, I focused on originally it was 10 dance, but I was always getting better results in the Latin because I'm so tall. I'm six foot four. My partner was probably five six, so there was quite a height difference. So when there's a height difference like that in ballroom, it does affect your results because it doesn't matter how good you are, they're always going to see that height difference. So you need to be more closer to the same height and why don't you switch them out for someone well?
Speaker 2:yes, a good question. Good question. I don't think there wasn't the the dance, there wasn't the dance partner available, okay, so there was no tall girl to say oh you know, I, I think I can. So I had to kind of specialize in the latin american, because that was more acceptable, that you had a height difference, and and in terms of American, because that was more acceptable, that you had a height difference.
Speaker 1:And in terms of the partner, when you have a partner that's like it's almost like a dance marriage, is it? You know, you don't chop and change. It's not like I'm doing this competition with you, I'm doing this with you. You pick a partner, you train together, you compete together, you are a team.
Speaker 2:Well, you are, you are a team. Well, exactly that. I mean, we danced together for 10 years and we were like a team, we were like brother and sister. I mean it is, it is. I mean, now I look back I think it's funny because, like on strictly, everybody dances with everybody.
Speaker 2:The pros mix around and dance with somebody different each year and and it's not quite so um, you don't have to specifically dance with one person, and a lot of the pros have tried to do that because they tried to make their name on their own rather than having that dance particular dance partner. You know, um, I've always had quite long-term dance partners. Um, even on strictly, I danced with camilla Dalla up for quite a while, and then then I danced with Natalie Lowe, and those were my main partners, um, so, uh, I think it's something which you know is from the dance world and you don't chop and change in the earlier days I guess your your teenage years and kind of coming up to being that top six in the world how did the funding side of it work?
Speaker 1:I mean, was it something expensive for you to do, or do you get some kind of sponsorship, or is it prize money? How do you put yourself through it?
Speaker 2:Well, I was lucky because my dad, sort of he, had the money to pay for my dance lessons, um. Had that not been available, I don't know whether I'd be here today. But um, and also the dance partner that I was with, her parents were quite well off and they were, they were happy to pay for all the dance lessons and all the practice and all the traveling that we were doing. So, um, so that was another element of it. Actually, about getting another dance partner is whether you can find a dance partner that can facilitate that and and have the money to to do it. It's not, it's not a cheap hobby at all. You know the the dance lessons are expensive and um, and and if.
Speaker 1:if someone can't afford to do it from their own family resources, I mean, is there sponsorship, some monies involved, or does often if you have money but your partner didn't, you may fund them?
Speaker 2:I mean, are there any, I guess, recognised routes that people I know in other countries they have a lot of support if you're quite good and quite talented. In the UK I don't think we do. I don't think we have much sponsorship or support. We do have associations like the English Amateur Association and I think they do support the amateurs, so there is certain funding in there for talented people coming up, but as far as I know we don't really have very much sponsorship in in ballroom dancing and that's quite an issue really because, um, you know, other sports do get lots of funding for up-and-coming talent, you know. So it's a bit of a shame really and how slash.
Speaker 1:When did you become professional and when did this go from just I guess you know fun amateur competitions to this was your career. This is how you're going to get paid.
Speaker 2:So I split my long-term partner when we were about 24.
Speaker 1:Why.
Speaker 2:She got a boyfriend. Did you get jealous? No, I didn't get jealous. I didn't get jealous. No, she got a boyfriend and and they started going out with each other. We, we were training less, so we were only doing twice a week.
Speaker 2:And, um, you know, when we were 21 22, we're in the final of the top six and then we went out of the final. That's very rare, nobody ever does that. So to go out of the final, and I, we did that for two years and I was like I need, we need to change something here, I need to move on. Because you were, you, blaming her for it. Um, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say blaming her for it. I, I think it was just, um, that, you know, at that point, when we were in the final, that's when we needed to up it. You know, we needed to up it. We need to be training five times a week. We needed to, you know.
Speaker 2:And and I felt like she decided that, oh, you know, I don't want to do this, I've got the boyfriend. I don't really want to. She didn't take it seriously anymore and that's why we went out of the final. That's why we went out of the top six. Um, you know, looking back, it's very cutthroat because you just think, wow, you know, maybe if you have had a conversation and said, listen, you've got choice. Either you, either we start going for it and getting back in that final, or I'm gonna split. But at the time I was like, right, no, that's it, I'm, I'm going, you know um.
Speaker 1:Did you guys thought, did you guys maintain contact for like?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, we're still really great friends now. Um, there's only three days between us in our age, um and uh, and we've always been close.
Speaker 1:You know she married that guy I was gonna say did she stay with him?
Speaker 2:marry with him, but then she divorced him and now she's happily married again with twins and stuff. So yeah, I think she's happy with her life choices. You know, and although you know it probably, you know you see me on like Strictly and then think, oh wow, you know, if only I'd carried on doing it. You know in a way, but no, she's a great friend. But then I went on to to dance with another girl, scottish girl, and we were kind of seventh. So we were on the brim of getting into the top six.
Speaker 2:Now top six is the final, but if you don't make the final, you may as well be, you know, not entering. Not entering as far as I was concerned, because I wanted to get back in that final. So we were sort of seventh for like almost two years then, like knocking on the final. But I, you know there's something in me that was saying this isn't the right partnership for me and it wasn't. You know, she was a great girl. Anyway, we split up after two years and then there was the availability of dancing with the world champion as a pro. But I had to decide that I was going to turn pro. At that point I was about 25, 26.
Speaker 1:So what's the difference between being amateur and being pro?
Speaker 2:Well, not a lot nowadays, because the amateurs can teach and the amateurs can earn, and the amateurs can earn money the same as pros. So so it's not really. But back in those days we weren't allowed to do demonstrations, we weren't allowed to teach, because officially that was it.
Speaker 1:You know, you could only do that if you turn professional um, and with this, with this girl being the um, the um, the number one and the professional, I mean, did you mean, did she immediately want you, or did you have to kind of audition and convince?
Speaker 2:I think it was a case of she'd been looking for a partner for a while after splitting, with her partner being a world champion. So she'd only been the world champion, probably like a year and a half before that. So she'd only been the world champion, probably like a year and a half before that. So, um, then they, basically her partner turned pro and he he decided to split it and get with a new girl for the pro field, um, and I think she'd spent a year and a half looking for a partner. So I think by then she was a bit desperate. So that's why, and um, and so we danced together but, uh, literally, I mean, we did really well, we were, we were right up there in the pro. We were about seventh in the pro, which is, you know, to go from the amateur seventh in the amateur seventh in the pro is pretty amazing, um, but I have to say it was the hardest time of my life because, it was so stressful dancing with her.
Speaker 2:She was, she was very demanding um, and I've got nothing against germans, but she was very german. Do you know what I mean? Precise and precise um was very german. Do you know I mean precise and precise um.
Speaker 1:Uh, but you know, like it was, that's her way and um so I think it's interesting you say the demanding thing because I was going to ask um, obviously I have a lot of, uh, sports stars on the, on the podcast, you know athletes and all I guess all kinds of different sporting careers, and we talk analogies between sports and business and I guess where mindset and the other non-talent things come into play, because I guess at that top level everybody probably has talent at a similar level but what makes the number one, what makes the professional difference? Does that kind of stuff come into play? A lot with dancing, you know mindset and stress and mental health and discipline I think it all does.
Speaker 2:I think all of that comes into play because when you're competitive dancer, it's the same as any competitive sport. You, you have to do it at such a high level that your, your mindset is just you know, training, eating right lifestyle, um, and, and, and it's all organized around you being the perfect athlete, really, and, and I know, as a dancer, we're exactly the same and and so is there a lot of, let's say, other fitness that that comes into your daily life as a professional dancer, like you're hitting the gym, you're running, you're eating right, you're sleeping right, you know.
Speaker 1:It's just I guess. I don't know much about dancing so I kind of I can't really. I just imagine the the bit on the saturday night where you're on the dance floor and you, you can't kind of see the hour, the hours of training, or you know, eating, eating the broccoli and avoiding the chocolate, but all that very much comes into it, doesn't it.
Speaker 2:I think if you're dancing 24-7, you can probably eat a bit of chocolate actually for the energy. But I mean, you know, I certainly do. But I think it's something inbuilt in athletes as well, Having done a sort of a retreat recently with some Olympians, they're still super fit, they still eat whole foods and they're still really healthy and and I think it's that you know, when you've trained like that for 20 years, um, it just that's your lifestyle. So it doesn't. It doesn't really change. You know, unless somebody completely changes their lifestyle and goes off the rails and he's drinking all the time and stuff like that, then then yeah you're, it changes.
Speaker 2:But I must admit, from my own point of view, even though I've stopped competing many, many years ago, I still look at my training in the gym as as my training and keeping my body fit. And I mean, you know, all right, I've probably done it a bit too much over the last year and a half, but you know, I got divorced the year before and I think it kind of changes your mindset a little bit. You think, okay, right, I'm going to get fit now and I'm going to be in the gym.
Speaker 2:Back on the scene, I'm like literally five days a week in the gym and I, you know, and I feel great for it. And now I'm kind of obsessed. If I don't get my five times a week, I'm like, okay, when am I going to, you know? But I think even when I was competing, I was in the gym as well and I think I'm quite lean and skinny. So I was always trying to be bigger, bulkier, just to look sort of stronger on the dance floor, because you have other people who are quite muscular, who look strong straight away, whereas I was always looking a little bit weak compared to those because I had this slender, slim sort of look, you know. So that's kind of also built in my brain I need to get bigger, I need to look bigger, although I don't think I'm never going to look like a bodybuilder, but you know, being six foot four and skinny, it's not going to happen. But at least if I can just look a little bit sort of athletic, it's better.
Speaker 1:So how did Strictly come about?
Speaker 2:little bit sort of athletics better. So how did strictly come about? So, um, I um, after that partnership with the world champion, uh, which was a disaster, seven months we did really well, but it was. It was like hell on earth for me. I, um, I was looking for a partner and we kind of because it's very small world, I was looking for a partner anywhere in the.
Speaker 2:Because it's very small world, I was looking for a partner anywhere in the world. And I remember I had, I had, about 11 000 pounds in the bank and I said to my dad, I've seen this house down the road. I said, um, I, I think I want to buy it. It's like semi-detached, it's near, near gran's house. He said. He said, no, you don't know what you're doing with your dance career. Don't spend it on a house, because then you'll be committed to a house. So I didn't. I bought a sports car instead. I had an amazing time in the sports car and I found a dance partner in Holland. She was Ukrainian, she'd got a Dutch passport, she'd been living there for 10 years, she was a great dancer. So I started like travelling over there and we decided we were going to be a dance partnership. In the beginning I was like travelling back and forwards to Rotterdam.
Speaker 1:I was going to say when you're looking around the world for these partners, how do you end up training with them? Do you have to go like I'll come to Spain for a month and hang out with you?
Speaker 2:you come to Englandland, exactly that, exactly that, or you, one of you, decides to relocate and that's what happened in the end.
Speaker 2:We were doing it for six months and they said do you know what? If you can get me some work here, I'm going to relocate to rotterdam. And then, every two weeks, I was flying home and teaching for a day on a saturday and I was teaching the whole day because I had I had, you know, 30, 40 hours of teaching because my stepmother had a dancing school. So I was going over to Holland and I became Dutch champion in that time. I became, then I split with a Dutch girl and I started dancing with a Belgian girl, became Belgian champion, second in the European show dance, and I'd literally in December I'd come second in the European show dance. But in my back of my head I was like, you know, I've been here for seven years in Holland and I didn't have any money. I hadn't saved anything up. I was 33 years old and I thought I just I don't need to move home. I need to move back and start teaching full time and saving some money and buying a house, you know, because I'm 33. And in the last month that I was in Holland I had to borrow money off my dad to pay my rent. So anyway, I decided to move back.
Speaker 2:I moved back in the April and during when I moved back, I heard about this show, strictly Come Dancing Bearing in mind I'd been on Come Dancing the original Come Dancing many years before and I heard about this and I was like, oh, how are they going to get celebrities, beginners, to dance like us in a few weeks? It's not going to be possible. It'd be ridiculous. I mean, it's a stupid idea. Saturday night live entertainment Well, well, I started watching it. I moved back in the april. I started watching it and I was like bloody hell, actually, they're performing amazing dances. They did have, uh, chris parker, who was who made the final and he was terrible but people kept voting for him so he kept getting back in but he was hilarious because he was so bad and, um and and like captivated the audience in the first series with brendan cole and natasha kapolinski.
Speaker 2:Um, and what happened was I was in blackpool. I'd I'd put an advert in. It's like the biggest competition in the world blackpool, winter gardens Gardens it's the Open British Championship. I put an advert in there saying I was back in the UK and Camilla Dallarup, who was Brendan Cole's partner, dance partner and fiance, saw it. Anyway, we bumped into each other at a party there and she said to me oh, you know, I've split up with Brendan, maybe we can get together sometime, dance together. So I was like, yeah, yeah, sure. Anyway, I was on holiday at the time in the June and she rang me and she said listen, why don't we get together and talk about dancing together? We met up, we decided we were going to dance together and then she said oh, by the way, the BBC are looking for new dancers for the second series of Strictly Come Dancing and they're having another one in September, another series.
Speaker 2:This was in the first year of Strictly 2004. And I said, yeah, sure, put me forward. Well, I had four auditions. And I remember I was on the beach in Ibiza partying and I got this phone call and it was from a producer in in London from Strictly, saying um, we've done all your auditions, it's great, but we've got nothing up to date from you. And I thought, well, I'd just just come runner up in the European show dance in um in in France. So I rang my dad up and it was in the days of cassette recorders. I mean, can you believe it? And I said, dad, I've got a cassette recorder at home. Can you put it to where our show dance is and send it to the BBC? So, unbeknownst to me, he gets it and he sends it via courier like bike. And an hour later they rang me up and they said yeah, ian, we've seen your video, you're in. So you're in this season of Strictly. So that was my introduction into the second series of Strictly.
Speaker 1:For the auditioning process. Was it all dance related or did they do a lot of kind of testing for your personality and banter and stuff in general, or is it more?
Speaker 2:I think most of it is personality, most of it's that I had about two or three interviews with different producers. The last one, I went into the office and I was interviewed by the exec producers and it was videoed and so that was quite like, you know, intimidating, a bit like this, no, no, no. And also I had to teach a couple. So I was in the studio. They filmed a bit of me teaching another couple so that they knew that I could teach.
Speaker 2:Obviously, you know, if other pros are recommending me, they know my stature and it was kind of the perfect step for me because I kind of finished my competitive career, yeah, and I was used to teaching beginners because of my parents' dancing school and I was used to teaching show dances, which is what they are. On Strictly, every dance is a show dance. On Strictly, let's face it, you have a beginning, a middle and end, you have highlights, you have lifts and it's not like, oh, we're going to do a cha-cha-cha, it's not like that, it's a show dance and that's what I'd just done. So it was kind of the perfect way into Strictly Come Dancing.
Speaker 1:And you talk about the teaching. So what is the setup? Does a choreographer pick a dance for you and then it's down for you to teach it to your partner?
Speaker 2:The producers decide. So they choose who you're dancing with also obviously the producers of the show, and then they will give everybody a different dance every week. So it's very rare that they have two of the same dances on um, they'll just change it up as much as possible and um, and basically I think the first three weeks you get to work on the first two weeks of the dances, but then from week three you're given your dance and you're told what you're doing next you could be told the dance that you're doing in, uh, a few weeks before, but you're not really given your music. So you can't choreograph anything until you've got that music in your hands because of the edit, because they'll edit it down to a minute and a half, and so then you have to choreograph it. So then from week three it's probably you have one week to get them, to teach them to choreograph it.
Speaker 2:You choreograph it on a Sunday morning or Sunday sometime. Go in the studio on Monday, and then you have Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, thursday you're in the studio, monday, and you have monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday thursday, you're in the studio. Or friday, you're in the studio, strictly studio. So so you don't have many days to get that celebrity and and those days that you're training with that what they're?
Speaker 2:eight hour days, nine, just yeah I mean, it depends where you are. Um in the uk they're doing eight to ten hours and I think it's like expected of you. If you're not doing that, then it's, and it's kind of it's got like that. In my day it wasn't like that. Like back in the day it was like, you know, the celebs were told that they had to do at least 12 hours a week. Well, it's not like that anymore. It's like it's like 20 to 30, 30 to 40 hours a week.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you've never danced before, that can't possibly be enough time to learn.
Speaker 2:Well, the 12 hours that is yeah, but you can learn a lot, right, you can learn a lot in 40 hours in a week, or, let's say, I don't know 30 hours a week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, but I meant the 12 hours that you were saying in the beginning and you did seven hours. Sorry, seven hours. You did seven years of Strictly.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I did so. I did six years as a pro dancer and then, oh, the seventh year was as a pro dancer. I was in the show dancers, but then that year I transitioned into it Takes Two and I was presenting my own slot on it Takes Two called Waits Warm Up, where I basically critiqued all of the rehearsals that they were doing, all the couples rehearsals, basically to say what they could do better before the show on Sunday or Saturday. And that was my slot on a Wednesday afternoon, which was, yeah, it was great to go from that and I mean, I'll be honest, you know, when I was dropped from Strictly, I was pretty devastated. You know it took a lot of time to get over that, probably about two years.
Speaker 1:Why were you?
Speaker 2:dropped. Why was I dropped? I don't really know. I don't really know. I don't really know. I know that, like, at that time, I'd been doing the show, I'd been touring with the pro dancers on Strictly, I'd been doing all the pro, all the arena tours as well. So I was pretty exhausted. It was sort of seven it. It was six, seven years of doing that and I probably went into my interview with my new producer and probably didn't give the right impression. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I was just tired and and exhausted and, um, just needed a bit of a break. I probably could have had a year off and I'd come back like, like a new person. But, um, yeah, it was just one of those things. Um, I absolutely gutted at the time, but I do feel like, um, you know I was, I was also, it was, I was given this uh opportunity to become a presenter as well at the same time.
Speaker 2:On, it takes two, so, uh, to do that for 10 years afterwards. It kept me part of the strictly family. It kept me, um, kept me doing what I, which was touring my own shows. And, yeah, it was a hard transition and in the beginning I was like, oh my God, I don't do this. I don't talk for a living, I dance for a living. You know it was a hard transition to make.
Speaker 1:And in terms of the six or seven years that you, that you were doing strictly for, uh, I mean, was it, was it highs and lows, or was it always the best experience ever? You know, give me, give me some juicy gossip. Your favorite celebs it was.
Speaker 2:It was definitely highs and lows and in those days they showed them right, because nowadays they don't show the highs and lows so much. It's more about all the happy, fluffy stuff and and you know, um. But in those days, you know, we used to go through weeks where it was really hard. You know this dance, you know, like with zoe ball zoe, I see her very, very recently. Um, penny lancaster uh, we've stayed in great contact, you know, um. But but yes, in those days we did have highs and lows and I have to say, you know, to be a good teacher, you've got to be able to adapt to your pupil and they were all very different personalities.
Speaker 2:You know, denise was very laid back, not particularly hardworking, which you would be surprised at, but on a live show she was like focused, unbelievable focused, and you could understand why. You know, as an Olympian, they have to be like that. When they need to deliver, they focus and they deliver their best performance. Do you know what I mean? So she was like that on a live show she would produce. I'd be in rehearsals, I'd be like, oh my God, I don't know how this is going to go, get to the live show and she would be amazing on the live show. She would. She would do her best performance. Um. Zoe was totally different. Zoe was very emotional. You know, one minute she'd be up, next minute she'd be down.
Speaker 1:Um and managing because she was doing some bad dancing in practice and getting stressed with it, or she struggled with the dance.
Speaker 2:You know, one week she thought it was easy and then the next week she thought it was really difficult. And so we did go through that rollercoaster of emotions and whereas I could really push Denise with Zoe, I felt as though she worked with affirmation, positive affirmation, all the time. So if I said to Zoe, yeah, yeah, you got your head out really good, even if she didn't, she would think, ah, he likes the way I put my head out, I'm going to do it even more. Do you know what I mean? So it would be like the more I encouraged her, the more I gave her credit, the better she got and the more confidence. So it's more confidence building with zoe.
Speaker 2:Um, and then you know, I had amazing uh, like penny lancaster was was very, very motherly. She would invite me home to her and rod's place for dinner afterwards after every practice. Um, I mean, rod got a bit fed up in the end. He, he was like, oh God, you again. And I've stayed really good friends with them. And Jodie Kidd, see, I used to get all the really tall ones because I'm 6'4". They were all 6 foot, you know, they're all like 5'11", 5'10", 6 foot. Jodie Kidd was amazing, she was so funny I wouldn't say she was particularly hardworking, but she's just hilarious we used to have such a laugh We'd do an hour and a half, and then she'd say should we go to the pub? Let's have a pint, shall we? So it would be very mates and fun, yeah.
Speaker 1:That practice time that you're together. Is that for you to work out between you, kind of as in you know, you're told, right, you're performing on Saturday, for example, you've got Monday to Friday to get on with it and you know you and your partner pick up the phone and go right, I'll see you in the dance practice room at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. For example, if they say, say, oh, I can't be arsed coming to 11, that's down for you and them to sort it out, is it?
Speaker 2:and for you to give them some shit and say, I mean, I'd never had any dance partners that were like that, that turned up late or anything like that. They were always really on time and I'm glad about that because who were some bad ones for other people oh Well, I'm not going to say I'm not going to say but.
Speaker 2:I think that you know there's a lot to do in that time. You think, oh, you know, eight, ten hours a day, you've got loads of time to teach this celeb to do that. But actually there's a lot to learn. And I did have one dance partner who, um, I'd be working on the hips, okay. So, like we're working on the hips, okay, now we're going to work on foot action, leg. I could no, I can't do that. I've only just done the hips. I said, yeah, but we may have to move on. Once we've done it, we have to move on. She was arguing that that she didn't want to go on to that because she'd only just learned to do that part of the. I was like, no, like we have, we don't have enough time. We have to. We have to get on and do these, tick these boxes and get them done, or else you're not going to be ready for Saturday, you know.
Speaker 2:So it is a little bit. You know, you do have a in the back of your head. You're thinking time's ticking and I we've got to be good enough so that, like by Wednesday, thursday, you want to be running the dance and you want them to know everything, and you're just running it and practicing the performance. That's what you want to be, so that when you go live on a Saturday, it's just your body's done it so many times that it's just spontaneous. This is what it's going to do. You don't have to think about the routine. You've done it so many times, you're just going to do it.
Speaker 1:Would you ever still get nervous doing the performances, the live performances, for Strictly, or was it I'm trying the words, not a lower level, but because you're not doing your world-class, competing, you know, with a world-class partner against other world-class people? Was it quite a chilled thing for you where you're just out there and going through the motions, or was it still, you know, concentrating, hard work, stress?
Speaker 2:It definitely wasn't chilled. I can remember my legs shaking at times going on because you don't really know they're beginners.
Speaker 1:Well, I was going to say what do you worry more, about yourself or about your partner fucking up?
Speaker 2:I think you're more worried about the partner, but also you're going live to like 12 million people. That's scary. I don't care who you are. It doesn't matter what you're doing and how much you know about the subject You're going to be. I was going to swear then, but you're going to be cacking yourself because you're about to go live to 12 million people, so anything can happen, it's scary.
Speaker 1:Did you have any particularly bad mishaps?
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, only once, but we'd already. When I danced the final with Zoe Ball, we were announced as third, but we were able to dance our show dance Because in those days you could. And so we danced our show dance. And we were like, right, let's prove to them that we should never have come third. And we danced the show dance. And it was America from West Side Story. I want to be in America. Oh yeah, A singer.
Speaker 1:Not just a dancer, but a singer too.
Speaker 2:Well, I've done a bit of panto. Oh, no, you haven't.
Speaker 2:And at the beginning of this number she has a fan. She's a Spanish dress and she has a fan and she's doing all the slow moves with the fan and then she's supposed to throw the fan off the floor right, but she throws it not off the floor, still on the floor. Okay, so we're doing the dance, we're great, and at one point we walk away from each other and do one point. We walk away from each other and do this big grand circle away from each other and of course, I stand on the on the um the fan and fall over. Anyway, one of the things with Zoe is I could never let go of her because she would either go off time or do the wrong steps. So I always had to be holding on to her and all I remember is being on the floor and her looking down at me just laughing, and I thought don't laugh, keep going keep going, so I had to quickly jump up and carry on with the dance.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I think that's one of the only times a pro dancer has fallen over and that happened while you were live, yeah, live, live to the nation.
Speaker 1:There's been some strictly scandals recently, very recently. I'm terrible with the names Giovanni Panisse and Graziano Di Prima. Yeah, do you know those guys? Well, there's a link they're both Italian.
Speaker 2:A little bit of advice't don't book italians anymore I mean did, did you know them personally?
Speaker 2:or yeah, I know both of them. Uh, I mean, I'll be honest, it's quite a shock and surprise that that these allegations have been thrown around, because, certainly in my time on, strictly, I never experienced, I never experienced anything like that. You know, we, I mean, there was times when I fell out with my partner, yes, and there was times when there was even like a lot of shouting matches going on, but it was for good reason. There was no, it wasn't. You know, but I think you know it's, it's In any work situation. It doesn't matter what it is, even if it's TV or whatever. There has to be a level of of Respect and and there's certain lines that have to be drawn. Surely I think one of the problems here is that, as a pro dancer, we certainly weren't given all of the safeguarding rules or the rules that we should be sticking to as far as with our celebrities.
Speaker 1:How to behave.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how to behave. I mean, I know how to behave, but if you're not given safeguarding, rules and all of those things, then then how are they know how much to push them? What? What is? What is, uh, offensive or abusive if? If you're pushing your celebrity to do something, how hard are you able to push them? Um, because obviously there's been in the past. I have pushed celebrities, and that's just to get the best out of them. But I would say that was it was done in a way which was just, to, you know, bring out the best in them. You know, and I mean some people will say the way the pro talks to their celebrity, but it is. It is like a teacher pupil scenario. At the end of the day, you know, and, um, I suppose it's just, uh, you know, now that situation has arised, then obviously there's got to be a lot more safeguarding and a lot more.
Speaker 1:We need to know what the rules are, and when these kind of situations occur, how do Strictly and the producers or the people behind the scenes deal with it? Because I know one of the two guys I mentioned there's like an ongoing investigation at the moment isn't there. I mean, how do they conduct these investigations, Is it, I guess, like you're doing a corporate business where they get the different celebs and get the different dancers?
Speaker 2:they would interview them, interview, ask questions, I would presume. I mean, unless it's all filmed, it's your word against theirs, really isn't it? But if there's a, if there's a running theme throughout all of those celebs, then you know it's, it's quite you know. But then you know if you've got somebody, if that's pro has got somebody who's really good, and then they've got somebody who's really bad, the, the teaching method is going to be very different, because one gets it in five minutes, the other one takes five days to get it.
Speaker 1:You know, and that's hard, that's harder to to cope with, but I guess it's the way you cope with them does having a bad celeb or a bad partner impact on your chances of being getting rehired for next season as well?
Speaker 2:oh, definitely, definitely. It makes a big difference who you get, and that's kind of beholden to the producers as well. And I will say it's a tough show, especially if you've come on the show and you've been given great celebs in your first few years and you've done really well, made the final, made the semifinal, and then all of a sudden you start to get given, you know, like Anton sometimes, and maybe the older ones or the ones that aren't going to be as good, then that's harder, it is harder and it is kind of down to well. You know, at the end of the day it's a great show to be on, whether you're, you know, whether you're dancing with somebody who's not as good a dancer or a great dancer, it's still great fun to be doing so so after after the show finished, so well, after after after you you finished on the show, uh, you were doing your.
Speaker 1:It takes two yeah and and um talk to me what else has been going on since then and what, what? I guess what doors were opened to you from that strictly?
Speaker 2:opportunity, yeah. So, yeah, I started it Takes Two, I think in 2011. And we carried on doing that with Zoe and I did it with Zoe Ball, and I think one of the reasons I got the job is because me means that we have such a great chemistry and so we had such a great online sort of chemistry that that, uh, it was undeniable really. We always used to have such a laugh and it was very natural. To be honest, it wasn't. You know, I never looked at it as a job, it was more. It was more me having a laugh with my mate and on screen and just making TV magic really. But it was a lovely job to have, and what that facilitated for me was also touring. So I started to do my own theatre tours. I think I did an arena tour in 2012. I think I did an arena tour in 2012. Then I started with my own theatre tours in 2015-16. When you say your own, it's literally just you, so just me, with my dance partner. I started off with Camilla Dallarup, actually, and she'd already left Strictly, but we did our first tour together and then then I toured with natalie low, who was still on the show, so she was, you know a current pro on the show. Uh, we did some tours together we, we wrote them, we choreographed them and uh, so they were very successful. Then Natalie decided to stop and have babies and leave the show and I partnered up with Oti Mabuse, who became mega famous after that. That was in 2018. And then, all of a sudden, she was a judge on the Greatest Dancer Did so brilliantly. Then she was a judge on um, uh, the, the mass, mass, dancer, mass. Then she's been a judge on dancing on ice. I mean, she's done a phenomenal job and I think any of the pros that have diversified and gone off and done stuff like that is just it's great for us because it leaves the door open for us to do other things rather than just be a dancer, and I think up until these dancers, like Anton as well, started to break off and do other things, it's given it's opened the door for all of us, which is great. So we did that in 2018.
Speaker 2:Then, 2019, I started a show with Vincent Simone called the Ballroom Boys Hugely successful show. We did our first tour sold out. We went to do our second tour and that was at the beginning of covid. So we got all the rehearsals done, we had all the routines ready, we were about to go live on the 19th of march and then everything closed down on the 18th of march. So we literally were rehearsing our dress run in a theatre and then we couldn't open because of COVID, because everything shut down. Did you ever get to bring that?
Speaker 1:show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we waited a year and a half and then we brought it back in the autumn of 2021. So it was a year and a half after the same show, I think we changed a girl, one of the girls changed because they weren't available, so that was the only thing about that, but it meant that we were able to tour that show again and we toured that show carried on until June, actually the year after that. Um, and then what's gonna say, what else did we do? And then I didn't tour after that for a while. Um, I think we did a third tour together, me and vince yeah, we did.
Speaker 2:We did a short another tour together. Um, so we've worked a lot together, me and vince. We are like we are like the dancing Morecambe and Wise or the dancing Two Ronners. It's a bit like that because Vincent's very small. He's only about 5'7" and I'm 6'4", so us two on stage together. He's very funny as well, you know.
Speaker 1:So we dance. You don't just dance, you'll talk and interact.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do a lot of talking, so we've got a lot of. We do a lot of talking, so we've got a lot of jokes, a lot of fun stories from Strictly. You know, I talk about fun stories, like when I did a cha-cha demonstration with Camilla Daller up and ripped my trousers right at the front and I had this and I couldn't understand. I was dancing with her, the cha-cha-cha, and I couldn't understand. I was dancing with her, the cha-cha-cha, and I couldn't understand why the audience was laughing hysterically. You don't expect that when you're doing demonstration maybe a clap here and a whoop there, but but not laughing hysterically. I thought this is odd. Anyway, we finished the dance, she looked at me and she pointed down at my trousers and I looked down and I'd split the trousers right at the front of my crotch. But that wasn't the bad thing. The bad thing was that I had a flesh-coloured shirt on and part of it was poking out the bottom. Well, I wouldn't mind, but it was only two inches. So I asked in the audience. I said has anybody got a needle in cotton? And this old lady said yes, I have dear. She came down with a needle and she was like shaking, like that she started to sew and then I said it's all right, I'll bite the cotton, thank you.
Speaker 2:So yeah, we used to just tell fun stories from Strictly. Also, you know, I used to share a dressing room with Anton and Brendan, so Brendan was very competitive and very like in the zone on a Saturday, like with the shows, and Anton was always joking I mean me and Anton were like bantering all the time having a laugh. And I remember once we were sat there bantering, laughing, knock, knock, knock on the door and I opened the door and it's my mum and her best friend and I'm like hi, how are you? And then they both went like that. The mouse dropped and I turned around and Brenda was in the mirror, okay, bending over doing his hair with just a jockstrap on. My mum dines out on that she always tells that story where she saw Brendan Cole's bottom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but yeah. So we did that tour and then, of course, we had COVID. I did another short tour after that. Then, basically, I got divorced and it's kind of bringing us up to current day. How did the divorce affect you? Do you know? It had been coming for a long time, so I was ready for it. I think he'd met somebody else and so I was kind of ready for I was ready to step away from the relationship. So when it came to it, I was like, right, okay, yes, I was like I've got some direction, I know what I want to do, but I think, affecting me, my self-esteem was a lot lower and I had lost a lot of confidence.
Speaker 1:What had caused him to get with someone else Was that you were travelling too much, working too much so he was an airline pilot.
Speaker 2:Okay, and I think that says it all. You know Italians and airline pilots.
Speaker 2:Long haul, long haul. I mean it's like you know. But anyway, you know I had lost a lot of self-esteem and you know I've lost a lot of self esteem and I, you know I've been really lucky in my career. You know that I've been busy for many years and what happened was then, just after that happened, we decided to split up. It was like in the January 2023. It's on my birthday actually. Nice day, great day.
Speaker 2:But just after that, my dance partner, natalie Lowe. She relocated to Australia. She was Australian, she'd had kids. Her first son is my godson Jack and she rang me and she said guess where I am? And I said where are you? She said I'm on my way to meet my celeb. I said what are you talking about? You just had a baby, like 10 months ago. I said are you doing Dancing with the Stars Australia? She said yes. I said oh my God, that's amazing. She said anyway, the reason I'm ringing is I was in a production meeting with them and they are looking for a tall pro dancer, so I put your name forward. I hope you don't mind.
Speaker 2:I'm like well, when is it? I said I might be busy. She said it's like April, may, uh, this year. So I was like, okay. I said, well, I've got a couple of things, but I probably could move them. She said, okay, would you have a zoom with the exec producer? So I said okay. So I had a zoom on the Sunday with the exec producer. So I said okay. So I had a Zoom on the Sunday with the exec producer and he was like we're so happy to have you on board, ian, somebody of your calibre. We can't wait to get you started on the show. I haven't even said yes yet, but do you know what I thought? Like two months in Australia, why not?
Speaker 2:They did a shortened down version because ever since COVID, they made this shortened down version, so it was a bit easier and pre-recorded. So it was all done over seven weeks, eight weeks. And what year was that? So that was 2023, last year, and I loved it so much. I had such a great time. Made the final. My celeb was amazing. She was an actress, virginia Gaye. I loved her, we were like best mates.
Speaker 2:And then I wasn't sure whether I'd do it again, because I thought it was a great time to step away and be myself and find my purpose again, because being Ian Waite, the Strictly Come Dancing. Dancing with the Stars star on TV was was where I was most comfortable and where I I, you know I kind of um, I shone really so um. So to do that again brought back my confidence. So I wasn't sure whether I'd do it again. And then the producers rang me up and they said we'd really like you back, um, channel 7 would love you back, which was the channel that did it in Australia.
Speaker 2:And it's January, february and I thought January, february is summer in Australia. Why do I want to stay here in the terrible weather in the UK? Why don't I just go to Australia and do that for two months? So I thought, yes, I'm going to go out there. Well, the first month was in Melbourne, which I was a bit gutted because my dance partner, natalie, was in Sydney. So I thought, well, I won't see her in the first month. But then the second month was in Sydney. So I thought, well, I'll see her in the second month and I'll see my godson.
Speaker 2:They gave me an amazing partner, lisa McCune, who is like a, like a national treasure out there. She's like one of their best actresses in their dramas out there. She's won four golden logos, which is like their equivalent to our BAFTAs. Um, so she was much loved by the public. Um, anyway, we pre-recorded that filming and, um, we made the top two. Now the top two. They both get filmed winning because it's pre-recorded. Both get recorded winning the trophy with your winning speeches and you don't know who wins until it comes out on the tv. So I didn't find out until the 12th of august this year that I actually won it. So finally, after 20 years, I actually won the Mirabal trophy.
Speaker 1:Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:This was the same season Aunt Middleton was on, wasn't it? Yes, so Aunt Middleton was third, so Aunt's a friend of mine back in Dubai, Ah she lives in Dubai, doesn't she?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we actually met on the podcast and he was moving out to Dubai literally just after we'd been on the podcast. So we hang out with the family and stuff over there and he showed me. I never obviously got to watch it on the telly, but when he'd come back to Dubai from Australia we were out for the day and he was showing me his little dance moves.
Speaker 1:He did pretty amazing. I mean I couldn't believe it. I mean he looked and, and because he doesn't look like a dancer, does he? You know? And? But the way they came together, not just the dancing but the whole production, you know, I remember the like the danny zucco grease type thing he did and everything very, very cool I mean he was, he was a revelation really, because this, this guy you don't expect to be, he could literally do anything really.
Speaker 2:I mean the lift work that he did was insane. I mean stuff like standing on the shoulders. I mean who who puts your partner? And standing on the shoulders I mean it's like ridiculous. Um, but I did love and you know he, we had a special bond as well because obviously we're both british, so, um, so we were the two Brits on the show and everybody else was Australian and he was just an all-round brilliant, brilliant guy and I loved him and really inspirational as well because he sort of stepped out of his comfort zone and just, I think the thing with Dancing With the Stars or Strictly Come Dancing as a celeb you've got to just say I'm going to give everything to this, I'm not going to hold back. I'm not going to think, oh, I can't do that because it's got rhinestones on it, or I can't do that because it looks you know. You just got to say, okay, I'm going to do whatever you tell me to do and do it at my best. And that's what he did. He did it 100% and thankfully he was third Because I did worry about him. I thought he could win this. He could definitely win this.
Speaker 2:Are you going to be going back for another year? It is later in the year, I think next year. So I don't know. I don't know. I think you know part of me thinks okay, I've won it now. I've been doing it for 20 years uh, probably the longest serving pro dancer. I'm 53, the oldest person to ever win it in the world, probably, um, do I really want to go back as a dancer? You know, I'd love to go back as a, as a judge or as a presenter in some way. Um, I don't know whether that's, that's in my stars at all, um, but um, I mean it would be nice to go back as, uh, the current reigning champion. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1:so then the pressure's on. Yeah, finish on a high yeah, yeah, that's.
Speaker 2:That's the issue. Really, it would be nice to finish on a high, but it is fun out there. It's lovely to go out there and work for two months. So he wouldn't want to work in the sun in Australia for two months. It's just great.
Speaker 1:What is your?
Speaker 2:FitSteps program Ah, fitsteps. You know this is funny. I was talking about writing my book the other day and I've got somebody helping me and I went through all of the stuff. You know my whole life and I'd forgotten about FitSteps, which is such a massive part, 11 years ago. I'd started this many years, like when I was living in Holland.
Speaker 2:I remember going past fitness classes like Les Mills and thinking, oh, you know, these classes are great, but my ballroom dancing keeps me in a really fit shape, so why can't there be a class, some sort of class, which is ballroom based or ballroom and Latin American based? And so I had that in the back of my head and obviously Zumba was very big at the time as well. It was massive. So I thought, well, I'll become a Zumba instructor. So I learned that when I kind of left Strictly and I taught that a bit and I loved it. But I thought you know, ballroom dancing is so different to this. So I went about creating my own ballroom Latin-based dance fitness program Then. So I'd done that and I started teaching it quite a bit. It was very successful.
Speaker 2:And then I got approached by Natalie Lowe, my dance partner, and Mark Foster, the Olympic swimmer and that said to me listen, mark's got this idea about a dance fitness program. He's got some friends who are in that business, in the fitness world, who could run the business. We just got to create it. Would you be interested? Because I'd like to do it with you, because I know you're doing something like that already. So I said, yeah, sure, why not? So we spent a year creating FitSteps and then we launched it about 10 years ago, 10 and a half years ago, and yeah, it's been amazing. We've got 1,000 instructors across the UK and across the world, the uk and across the world, um, and we have about 850 subscribers to our, our app, which we created during covid because we knew there was a market for it and, um, kind of flew.
Speaker 2:So, uh, you know, it's great. Really. We want to emulate that in other countries. So that's what we're trying to do and we have, like instructors popping up everywhere in the world because we have an online training program to be an instructor. So you can literally learn it online from anywhere in the world and become an instructor. So, yeah, so it's what it's done is it's kept me fit as well, because, you know, I'm 53. And I'm still doing the classes myself. I've got a class tonight, actually in Wokingham, and, yeah, I love it, and the fact that I can do a class which is boring Latin bass, which is what I do, which is what my body knows is amazing for me and people love it because it's like, strictly, any lady can do this dance, get fit, do all the moves off of Strictly and it's like you don't need a partner, so it's perfect.
Speaker 1:Fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, listen, it's been a pleasure talking to you and I guess in the well, I was going to say 20 plus, I mean like 30 years really, since a professional dance life began for you it's been a whirlwind of stories and experiences and fantastic success. I mean, what have we got to look forward to? Are they coming out soon, or where's the next five or 10 years of being going to be who?
Speaker 2:knows, I do think you know I'm doing a course of NLP later on this year so hopefully that will give me some sort of clarity as to what I'm going to do in the future. But over the next couple of months I'm rehearsing and I've got this tour, legends of the Dance Floor, which I said at the beginning with Brendan Cole, Vincent Simone, Pasha, Kovalev, James Jordan, the five of us.
Speaker 1:People listening or watching. They can buy tickets for that. Now they can Google it, they can buy tickets.
Speaker 2:I know we're probably doing a show next year as well. I know pretty much the tickets sold out within a week of going on sale, so we had to include matinees. So we've added six matinees, so hopefully you'll be able to get a ticket. Fantastic, fingers crossed well.
Speaker 1:Thanks a lot again for being here, but it's been a pleasure and I look forward to keeping in touch. Thank you, matt, it's brilliant. Hey, matt here, thanks for listening to stripping off with matt haycox, but did you also know I've got another podcast, no bollocks, with Matt Haycox both of these very different. If you're enjoying the deep dives with the guests that I have every week on Stripping Off, then you're going to love the quick, short business tips, strategies and tactics I give you on no Bollocks. This comes out nearly every day. Make sure you go and check it out on iTunes, spotify, youtube, wherever you listen to your content, and I'll see you in a future episode.
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