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
Strictly Come Dancing Scandals & Survival — Ian Waite on Fame, Fear & Finding Purpose
Tell us what you like or dislike about this episode!! Be honest, we don't bite!
Professional dancer and Strictly Come Dancing legend Ian Waite joins me to share the untold story behind his rise, his fall, and his fight to rebuild confidence after life in the spotlight. He reveals what really happens behind the scenes of Strictly, from safeguarding and producer pressure to the mental toll of chasing perfection in front of millions.
You’ll learn:
- How Ian’s family shaped his career.
- What competing at the top level really takes.
- The truth behind Strictly scandals and safeguarding.
- How fame affects confidence and relationships.
- What it takes to reinvent yourself after the cameras stop.
📲 Follow Ian Waite:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ianwaite/
Tour: www.legendsofthedancefloor.com
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction
05:00 – Discovering Dance & Early Competitions
14:00 – Strictly Beginnings
25:00 – Teaching Celebrities & Show Pressure
33:00 – Strictly Scandals & Safeguarding
46:00 – Winning Dancing With The Stars Australia
52:00 – Reinvention & Confidence
Keywords: Ian Waite, Strictly Come Dancing, BBC Strictly, Giovanni Pernice, dance scandal, resilience, fame and mental health, confidence after TV, No Bollocks Podcast, Matt Haycox.
Listen weekly on Stripping Off with Matt Haycox:
📲 Follow on IG: /www.instagram.com/strippingoffwithmatthaycox
💼 Connect on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thematthaycox
🎥 Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@strippingoffpodcast
It's quite a a shock and surprise that these allegations have been thrown around. How hard are you able to push them? Well, there's a link. They're both Italian. There's certain lines that have to be drawn, surely. There was even like a lot of shouting matches going on. A little bit of advice. Don't book Italians.
SPEAKER_02:Professional dancer, choreographer, strictly legend in wait. Tell me how dancing came into your life.
SPEAKER_00:It's a funny story, actually. It's when my parents got divorced. Then my dad married my dance teacher. So it was cheap, cheap dance lessons after that.
SPEAKER_02:There's been some Strictly scandals recently. Giovanni Panis and Graziano De Prima.
SPEAKER_00:What is offensive or abusive if you're pushing your celebrity to do something?
SPEAKER_02:It's like an ongoing investigation at the moment. How do they conduct these investigations?
SPEAKER_00:Unless it's all filmed, it's your word against theirs, really, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02:Did you have any particularly bad mishaps?
SPEAKER_00:We finished the dance. She looked at me and she pointed down at my trousers. But that wasn't the bad thing. The bad thing was well, I wouldn't mind, but it was only two inches.
SPEAKER_02:Professional dancer, choreographer, strictly legend, Ian White. Welcome to the show. Well, thank you very much. That's a nice entrance. Simple, but as long as it includes the word legend, we're going to be. Perfect. 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 uh and how it all began.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean it's uh it's a funny story actually because it's when my parents got divorced. Um great story. You were so happy you started doing the jig. No, my 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. Um I was I was playing rugby and football. The last thing I wanted to do is go and dance because my I thought my friends would take the Mickey at me, to be quite honest. So he said, Okay, well, uh just take your brother then. Your brother will dance and you'll just wait there and watch him. So um 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 um my the teacher said, Right, Ian, get up and do this gay gordons. And that was it, and that was it. The rest is history, but um, yeah, I I sort of I don't know whether it was straight away, it was instant that I loved the dancing, but I um I started to learn and then I 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, and that was it. I was I was kind of hooked, and I um actually then my my dad married my dance teacher. So um it was cheap, cheap dance lessons after that. Yeah. Did you still keep up with the rugby and the other sports, or did you I don't think I did. I 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. 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.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And when when did you start to take it like very seriously? Then when did you think this might become a career?
SPEAKER_00: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, uh, the likes of Nina Hunt, uh Bill Irving, Walter Laird, these were like the top coaches in the world. They um they never took uh youth, they never took uh under 16-year-olds, they were only taking adults. So to be taking me at the age of 14, 15 uh 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. So, 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. So uh 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 I can't even, you know, it's not for me doing A levels. I'm gonna I'm just gonna 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 uh precision engineering company, and so I used to basically run his office for him when I was there, because I was I was dancing competitions abroad in Germany and and I was up in London having dance lessons all the time with the top coaches.
SPEAKER_02:In the earlier days of kind of I guess your your teenage years and and kind of coming up to being that you know top six in the world, how did the funding side of it work? You know, I mean, was it was it something expensive for you to do, or do you get some kind of sponsorship, or is it prize money? And how how did you put yourself through it?
SPEAKER_00:Um well, we I was lucky because um my dad sort of he had the money to pay for my dance lessons. Had that not been available, I don't know whether I'd be here today. 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 travelling 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 a it's not a cheap hobby at all, you know.
SPEAKER_02:The the dance lessons are expensive and um and if if someone can't afford to do it from their own family resources, I mean is there sponsorships and monies involved, or does often if you have a if you had money but your partner didn't, you you may fund them. I mean, are there 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.
SPEAKER_00:In the UK, I don't think we do. I don't think we have much uh sponsorship or support. We do have associations like the English Amateur Association, and I think they do support the amateurs, so there's certain funding in there for talented people coming up. Um 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.
SPEAKER_02: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_00: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. Um, so that would take me away from work. Um, 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 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. Oh, really? In in the adult, you know, because before then, when I won the European, it was like youth, I was under 18.
SPEAKER_02:And it was it was just a particular style of dancing you were doing at this point.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I I I I focused on uh in the 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 gonna 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 available? Well, yes, uh good question. Good question. I don't think there wasn't the per the the dance, the there wasn't the dance partner available. Okay. So there was no tool girl to say, oh, you know, I I think I can. So I had to kind of specialise in the Latin American because that was more acceptable that you had a height difference.
SPEAKER_02:I guess at that top level, everybody probably has talent at a similar level, but you know, what what makes the number one, what you know, what makes the the professional difference? Does that kind of stuff come into play a lot with dancing? You know, mindset and stress and mental health and and discipline?
SPEAKER_00:I think it all does. I I think all of that comes into play because when you're a competitive dancer, it's the same as any competitive sport. You uh you have to do it at such a high level that your your your mindset is just, you know, training, uh 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.
SPEAKER_02:So is there a lot of let's say other fitness that could 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. I don't know much about dancing, so I kind of I can't really, I just imagine the the the bit on the Saturday night where you're on the dance floor and you you 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 all that's all that very much comes into it, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00:I think if you're dancing 24-7, you can probably eat a bit of chocolate, actually, for the energy. But um I I I mean I you know I certainly do. But I I think it's something inbuilt in athletes as well. Having having done a sort of a retreat recently with some Olympians, um, they're still super fit, they still eat whole foods and it's 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 is drinking all the time and and stuff like that, then yeah, you're it changes. But I 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 my training and keeping my body fit and and uh I mean, you know, all right, probably I've 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 and I think it kind of changes your mindset a little bit. You think, okay, right, I'm gonna get fit now and I'm gonna be like I'm like literally five days a week in the gym, and I, you know, and I feel great for it. Um and now I'm kind of obsessed if I don't get my five times a week. I'm like, okay, when am I gonna, you know. Um but I think even even when I was competing, I was in the gym as well. And I think I'm quite I'm quite lean and skinny. So I was always trying to be bigger, bulkier, to just to look sort of stronger on the dance floor. Because you have other people who are quite muscular, 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. Um so that's kind of also inbuilt in my brain. I need to get bigger, I need to look bigger. Although I don't think I'm never gonna look like a bodybuilder, but um, you know, being six foot four and skinny, uh it's not gonna it's not gonna happen. But at least if I can just look a little bit sort of athletic, it's better.
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SPEAKER_00:So, how did Strictly come about? So, um, I um after that partnership with the world champion, uh, which was a disaster, it was seven months. We did really well, but it was it was like hell on earth for me. 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 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 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. Had an amazing time in the sports car. And I found a dance partner in Holland. Um, she was Ukrainian, she got a Dutch passport, she'd been living there for 10 years, and she's 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 traveling back and forwards to Rotterdam.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I was gonna say, how do you, 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, you come to England examined with me.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly that. Or you one of you decides to relocate, and that's what happened in the end. We were doing it for six months, and then I said, Do you know what? If you can get me some work here, I'm gonna 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 um I went, I was going over to Holland and um uh we I became Dutch champion in that time. I became uh then I split with the Dutch girl and I started dancing with a Belgian girl, became Belgian champion, second in the European show dance. And um I'd literally in the December I'd come second in the European show dance, but I in my back of my head, I was like, you know, I've been here for seven years in 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 and saving some money and buying a house, you know, because I'm 33. Uh 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 um I decided to move back. 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. Um, and I heard about this, and I was like, oh god, how are they gonna get celebrities, beginners, to dance like us in a few weeks? It's not gonna be possible, it'd be ridiculous. I mean, it's what a stupid idea. Saturday night live entertainment. Um, 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 it like captivated the audience in the first series with Brendan Cole and Natasha Kaplinski. Um, and what happened was I was in Blackpool, I'd I put an advert in, it's like the biggest competition in the world Blackpool Winter Gardens. It's the Open British Championship. I put an advert in there saying I was back in the UK. And Camilla Dalerup, who was Brendan Cole's partner, dance partner and fiance, um, saw it. Anyway, we bumped into each other at a party there, and she said to me, Oh, you know what, you know, I've split up with Brendan. Um, maybe we can get together sometime and dance together. So I was like, Yeah, yeah, sure. Anyway, uh, 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 then I'm having another one in September, another series. 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 run her 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. Um, can you put it to where our show dance is and send it to the BBC? So Unbeknownst to me gets it and he sends it via courier like bike. And uh 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 that was my introduction into the second series of Strickly.
SPEAKER_02:For the um auditioning process, was it all dance related, or do they do a lot of kind of testing you for your personality and banter and stuff in general, or is it is it is it more I think uh most of it is personality, most of it's that.
SPEAKER_00:Um I I had a I had about two or three interviews with different producers. Um the last one I went into the office and um and I was interviewed by the exec producers and it was videoed. Um, and so that was quite like you know, intimidating, a bit like this. No, no, no. Um, 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. Um, obviously, you know, if if other pros are recommending me, they know my stature. And and it was kind of the perfect step for me because I kind of finished my competitive career. I was used to teaching beginners because of my parents' dancing school, and I was too 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 and it's not like a oh, we're gonna do a cha-cha-cha. It's not like that, it's it's a show dance, and and that's what I'd just done. So it was kind of the perfect way into Strictly Hum dancing. You did seven years of Strictly, wasn't it? Yes, yes, I did. So I did six years um as a pro dancer, and then oh the seventh year was as a pro dancer. I was in the show dancers. Um 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 uh I um 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 um yeah, it was 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. Why were you dropped? Why was I dropped? Um I don't really know. I don't really know. I know that like at that time, um, I'd been doing the show, I'd been touring with with uh the pro dancers on Strictly, I've been doing all the pro uh all the arena tours as well. So I was pretty exhausted. It was sort of seven, 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, just needed a bit of a break. I probably could have had a year off and I'd come back like a new person. But um yeah, it was just one of those things. Um absolutely gutted at the time, but I do feel like um, you know, I was uh I was also it was I was given this uh opportunity to become a presenter as well at the same time. On it takes two. So uh to do that for 10 years afterwards. It kept me part of the Strickly family, it kept me um kept me doing what I loved, which was touring my own shows. And um yeah, it was uh yeah, it was a hard transition, but and and in the beginning I was like, oh my god, God, uh I don't do this, I don't talk for a living, I I dance for a living, you know? It was a hard transition to make.
SPEAKER_02: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 was it always the best experience ever? You know, it was some juicy gossip, your favorite celebs?
SPEAKER_00:It was there 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 uh, you know, um, but in those days, you know, we used to go through weeks where it was really hard, you know. There's this dance, you know, like with Zoe Ball. Zoe Ball's probably my closest friend. Um, I'm still really good friends with with Denise Lewis. I see her very recently. Um Penny Lancaster, uh we 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, to be a good teacher, you've got to be able to adapt to your pupil. And they were all very different personalities, you know. Uh Denise was very laid back, not particularly hardworking, which you would be surprised at. But on a live show, she was like focused, unbelievable focus. And you can 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 gonna 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. And manage.
SPEAKER_02:She'd be down because she was doing some bad dancing in practice and getting stressed with all this good stuff and with the dance.
SPEAKER_00:You know, one week she thought it was easy, and then the next minute, the next week she thought it was really difficult. And and so we did go through that like roller coaster of emotions. And and whereas whereas I could really push Denise with Zoe, I I I felt as though she worked with affirmation, uh, 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, um, she would think, ah, he's he he he likes the way I put my head out. I'm gonna 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 the better she got. Uh and the more confidence, so it's more confidence building with Zoe. Um, and then you know, I had amazing, uh like Penny Lancaster was very, very motherly. She would invite me home to her and Rod's place for dinner afterwards, after every practice. I mean, Rod got a bit fed up in the end. He was like, oh God, you again, do you know? And I've stayed really good friends with them. And um, Jodie Kidd, see, I used to get all the really tall ones because I'm 6'4. They were all six foot, you know, they're all like five foot eleven, five foot ten, six foot. Um uh Jodie Kidd was amazing. She was uh she was so funny. I wouldn't say she was particularly hardworking, but um she's just hilarious, you know. We used to have such a laugh, and we'd do like 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'd be very like mates and and and fun, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You talk about the teaching. I mean, what so what what is the setup? Does a does a choreographer pick a dance for you and then and then it's down for you to teach it to your partner?
SPEAKER_00:Um the pr the producers decide. So uh they they they choose who you're dancing with, also, um, 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 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. You choreograph it on the 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, or Friday, you're in the studio, strictly studio. So you don't have many days to get that celebrity.
SPEAKER_02:And and those days that you're training, I mean they're what they're eight-hour days, nine, yeah, just graft, graft.
SPEAKER_00: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 slabs were told that they had to do at least 12 hours a week. Well, it's not like that anymore. It's like 20 to 30, 30 to 40 hours a week.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, if you've never danced before, that can't possibly be enough time to uh to learn well um the twelve the 12 hours that is not.
SPEAKER_00: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_02:Yeah, no, but the twelve I meant the 12 hours you you were saying in the in the in the beginning. That practice time that you're together, is that kind of for you to work out between you kind of as in you're told, right, you're performing on Saturday, for example, you've got Monday to Friday to to get on with it, and you know, you and your partner pick up the phone and go, right, I'll see you, you know, I'll see you in the in the dance practice room at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Yeah, for example, if they say, Oh, I can't be asked coming till 11. That's dam for you and them to sort it out, is it?
SPEAKER_00: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 uh that I'm glad about that because I I probably who were some bad ones for other people. Uh well, I'm not gonna say, I'm not gonna say, but I think that um, you know, it was uh 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 to teach this celeb to do that, but actually there's a lot to learn. And I did have one dance partner, I'd be working on the hips, okay? So, like we're working on the hips, okay. Now we're gonna work on foot action, leg action. I couldn't know I can't. Can't do that. I've only just done the hips. I said, Yeah, but we 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 learnt 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, 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 I we've got to be good enough so that like by Wednesday, Thursday, you want to be running the dance, and they we they want 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 gonna do. You don't have to think about the routine. You you've done it so many times, you're just gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02:Would you ever still get nervous? Um, you know, doing the performances like you know, the live performances for strictly, or not a lower level, but because it's you know, 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 going through the motions, or or was it still, you know, concentrating hard work, stress?
SPEAKER_00:It definitely wasn't chilled. Um, I I can remember my my leg shaking at times going on because you don't really know they're beginners.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I was gonna say, what do you worry more about yourself or about your partner fucking?
SPEAKER_00:I think you're more worried about the partner, but also you're going live to like 12 million people. That's scary. That I don't care who you are, doesn't matter what you're doing and how much you know about the subject, you're gonna be I'm just gonna swear then, but you're gonna be you're gonna be cacking yourself because you're about to go live to and live to 12 million people. So anything can happen, you know, it's it's uh it's scary.
SPEAKER_02:Did you have any particularly bad mishaps?
SPEAKER_00:Or you're not well, yeah, only only once, but we'd already, when I danced the final with Zoe Ball, uh, we were announced as third, but we were able to dance our show dance. Because um 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 and it was America from uh West Side Story. I wanna be in America.
SPEAKER_02:Um, copyright with the not just a dancer, but a singer.
SPEAKER_00:Um well, I've done a bit of panto. Um no, you haven't. And at the beginning of this uh 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 go, we're great, and at 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 sh 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 hold holding on to her. And all I remember is being on the floor and her looking down at me, just laughing. I thought, don't laugh, keep going, keep going. So I had to quickly jump up and like carry on with the dance. But um, yeah, I think that's one of the only times a pro dancer has fallen over. That happened while you were live while you were live. Yeah, live, live to the nation.
SPEAKER_02:There's been uh there's been some strictly scandals recently. Very recently. I mean I'm I'm terrible with the names, Giovanni Panice and Grazziano da prima. Do you know those guys? Well, there's a link, they're both Italian.
SPEAKER_00:A little bit of advice. Don't don't book Italians anymore. Did you know them personally or or or do you think I know both of them? 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 anything like that. You know, uh, we I mean there was times when I fell out with my partner, yes, and and there was times when um 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, 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 uh and there's certain lines that have to be drawn, surely. I think one of the problems here is that um as a pro dancer, um, 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. And I think how to behave. Yeah, how to behave. I mean, I I know how to behave. But if 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. Um, and and 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 the bring out the best in them, you know. 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. I suppose it's just uh, you know, now that situation has arise, then obviously there's got to be a lot more safeguarding and a lot more um uh we we need to know what the rules are.
SPEAKER_02:When these kind of situations occur, how do strictly in the producers or the people behind the scenes you know deal with it? Because I know uh w one of the two guys I mentioned, there's a there's like an ongoing investigation at the moment, isn't it? I mean, how how do they conduct these investigations? Is it I guess like a like you're doing a corporate business where they get the different celebs in, get the different dancers? And they would interview them.
SPEAKER_00:Interview ask questions, I would presume. Unless it's all filmed, it's your word against theirs, really, isn't it? But uh 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 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, you know, and it that's hard, that's harder to cope with. But I guess it's the way you cope with them.
SPEAKER_02:In terms of the partner, when you have a partner, that's like it's almost like a dance marriage, is it? Like you know, you you're not you don't chop and change. It's not like I'm doing this concert, this competition with you, I'm doing this with you. You pick a partner, you train together, you compete together, you are you are a team.
SPEAKER_00:Well, exactly that. I mean, we 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. 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 are tried to do that because they tried to make their name on their own rather than having that dance particular dance partner, you know. I've always had quite long-term dance partners, um, even on strictly, I danced with Camilla Dallarat for quite a while, and then then I danced with Natalie Lowe, and those were my main partners. So uh I think it's something which you know is from the dance world and you don't chop and change.
SPEAKER_02:How slash when did you become professional then? When did this go from just I guess you know, fun amateur competitions to this was your career, this is how you're gonna get paid?
SPEAKER_00:So I um I split my long-term partner um uh when we were about 24. Why? Um she she got a boyfriend. Did you get jealous? Uh no, I didn't get jealous. I didn't get jealous. No. Um, she 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. And um, you know, when we were 21, 22, we were in the final of the top six, and then we went out of the final, and 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 to we need to change something here, I need to move on because you were you blaming her for it then? 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, and and I felt like she decided that oh, you know, I I don't want to do this. I've got the boyfriend, I don't 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 is very cutthroat because you just think, wow, you know, maybe if you have had a conversation and said, listen, you've got a choice. Either you either we start going for it and getting back in that final or or I'm gonna split. But at the time I was like, right, no, that's it, I'm I'm going. You know? Did you guys maintain contact for like Yeah, yeah, we are 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. You know, she married that guy. I was gonna say, did she stay with? She did marry with him, but then she divorced him, and now she's happily married again with twins and stuff. So um yeah, I think she's happy with her life choices, you know. And um although, you know, it probably probably to see, you know, you see me on like strictly and then think, oh wow, you know. Um if only I'd carried on doing it, you know, in a way. But uh no, she's yeah, she's a great friend. So 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. Now the top six is the final. But if you don't make the final, you may as well be 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, uh, like knocking on the final. Um but I, you know, there's something in me that was saying this isn't the right partnership for me, and and it wasn't uh, you know, she was a great girl. Anyway, we split up after two years, and then um there was the availability of dancing with the world champion as a pro. But I would have had I had to decide that I was going to turn pro at that point.
SPEAKER_02:Um I was about 25, 26. So what's the difference then between being amateur and being pro?
SPEAKER_00:Well, not a lot nowadays, because the amateurs can teach and the amateurs can earn money the same as pros. 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, you know, you could only do that if you turn professional.
SPEAKER_02:And with this, with this girl being the um the um the number one and and the professional, I mean, did you I mean did she immediately want you, or did you have to kind of audition and uh and convince?
SPEAKER_00:I think it was 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 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 amateurs, seventh in the pro is pretty amazing. But I have to say, it was the hardest time of my life because uh it was so stressful dancing with her. She was she's 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, but uh you know, like it was that's her way.
SPEAKER_02:And um does having a bad celeb or a bad partner impact on your chances of being getting rehired for for next season as well?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, definitely, definitely. It makes a big difference who you get, um, and and that's kind of beholden to the producers as well. And I I will say it's it's it's a tough, 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 and you've done really well, made the final, made the semi-final, and then all of a sudden you're you start get given um, you know, like Anton sometimes, um and maybe the older ones or the ones that aren't going to be as good, then 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.
SPEAKER_02:How did the divorce affect you?
SPEAKER_00:Do you know it'd been coming for a long time? So I'd I was ready for it. I think um 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 I was like, I've got some direction, I know what I want to do. But I I I I think affecting me, I um my self-esteem was a lot lower, and I had lost a lot of confidence.
SPEAKER_02:What would cause him to get with someone else? Was that you were traveling too much, working too much?
SPEAKER_00:So he was an airline pilot. Okay, and I think that says it all, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Italian Italians and airline pilots. We know.
SPEAKER_00:But anyway, I you know, I I had lost a lot of self-esteem, and um 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 we decided to split up. Um it was like in the uh January 2023. It was on my birthday, actually. Nice day, great day. Um, but just after that, my dance partner, Natalie Lowe, she'd been relocated to Australia. She was Australian. She'd had two kids. Um her first son is my godson. 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 ringing is I was in a production meeting with them and they are looking for a tall boy, a tall pro dancer. So I put your name forward. I hope you don't mind. 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, and he was he was like, We're so happy to have you on board, Ian. Somebody of your caliber. We can't wait to get you get you started on the show. I was like, I haven't even said yes yet. But do you know what? I thought, you know, like two months in Australia, why not? They did a shortened down version because ever since COVID, they 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. Oh, and what year was that? That was so that was 2023, last year. And um, I loved it so much. I had such a great time. Made the final, my celeb was amazing. She was an actress, Virginia gay. Um, I loved her. We were like best mates. Um 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 and find my purpose again. Because being Ian Waite, the the Strictly Come Dancing, Dance with the Stars, star on TV was was where I was most comfortable and where 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. Um, 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 gonna go out there. Well, the first month was in Melbourne, so which was a bit, 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. 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 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 Mirable Trophy. Congratulations. Uh, thank you.
SPEAKER_02:And um this was the same season Aunt Middleton was on, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:So Aunt Middleton was third. So and and it's a friend of mine back in Dubai, uh, yeah. So we actually met met on the podcast, and he was he was moving out to Dubai literally just just after being on the podcast. So we you know we hang out with the family and stuff over there. And uh yeah, he should show me. I never obviously got to watch it on the telly, but uh when he came back to Dubai from Australia, we were out for the day and he was showing me his dance, showing me his little dance.
SPEAKER_00:He did pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I could I couldn't believe it. I mean it he looked because he doesn't look like a dancer, does he? You know, and uh but the way they came together, not just the dancing, but the whole production, you know. I I remember the like the Danny Zuko Grease type thing he did and everything, very, very cool.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, he was he was a revelation, really, because this this guy you don't expect to be, he he could literally do anything, really. I mean, the lift work that he did was insane. I mean, stuff like standing on the shoulders. I mean, who puts your partner and standing on the shoulders? I mean, it's like ridiculous. But I did love Anne, you know, he um 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. Um, and uh he was just an all-round, brilliant, brilliant guy, and I loved him and and really inspirational as well, because he sort of stepped out of his comfort zone. And just I think the the the thing with Dancing with the Stars or Strip Become Dancing, as a as a celeb, you've got to just say, I'm gonna give everything to this. I'm not gonna hold back, I'm not gonna think, oh, I can't do that because it's it's got rhinestones on it, or I can't do that because it looks uh, you know, you just gotta say, okay, I'm gonna do whatever you tell me to do and do it at my best. And that's what he did. He did it 100%. Thankfully, he was third. Because I did worry about him. I thought he could win this. He could definitely win this. Are you gonna be going back for another year? Um, it is later in the year, I think, next year. So I don't know. I don't know. I'd I think, you know, part of me thinks okay, I've won it now. I've been doing it for 20 years. Uh, I'm 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 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? So then the pressure's on. Yeah. Finish on a high. Yeah, yeah, that's that's the issue, really. It would be nice to finish on a high. And um, 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 in the sun in in Australia for two months. It's just great.
SPEAKER_02:So after after the show finished, so well, after after after you you finished on the show, you were doing your It Takes Two?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:What else has been going on since then? And and what what uh I guess what doors were opened to you from uh you know from that strict the opportunity?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So um so yeah, I started It Takes Two, I think in 2011. And uh when we we carried on doing that with Zoe. And I did it with Zoe Ball, and and I think one of the reasons I got the job is because that me and Zoe 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 um and on screen and just making TV magic, really. Um, but it was it was a lovely job to have, and what that facilitated for me was also touring. So I started to do my own my own theatre tours. 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 in literally, literally just you. So just me with with my dance partner. I started off with Camilla Dallarup, actually, and she'd already left strictly, but um, we did our first tour together, and then I toured with Natalie Lowe, who was still on the show. So she was a bit, you know, uh 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 um then I uh then Natalie decided to stop and have babies uh and leave the show. And um I partnered up with Otima Boossi, 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 uh 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, then uh 2019. I started a show with Vincent Simoney called The Ballroom Boys. Hugely successful show. Um, 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 show? Yeah, so we we waited a year and a half and then we brought it back in the autumn of 2021. So it was 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 so um that was the only thing about that. But it it meant that we were able to tour that show again, and we toured that show carried on till June, actually, the year after. 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. We did a short, another tour together. So we've worked a lot together, me and Vince. We are like we are like the dancing Morcam and Wise, or the dancing two Ronnies. It's it's a bit like that because Vincent's very small. He's only about five seven, and I'm six four. So us two on stage together, we we he's very funny as well, you know. So we we just you don't just dance, you'll you'll talk and interact, you yeah, yeah, we do a lot of talking, so we've got a lot of jokes, a lot of fun stories from Strickly. Um, you know, I talk about fun stories like when, you know, when I I did a I did a cha cha demonstration with Camilla Dallas up and and ripped my trousers right at 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 why the audience was laughing hysterically. You don't expect that when you're doing a 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 crutch. 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 and said, Has anybody got a needle and 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. So, yeah, we used to just tell fun stories from Strickley, also. Uh, you know, I used to share a dressing room with Anton and Brendan. So um, Brendan's very competitive and very like on the 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 and uh I remember once um 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 mouth dropped, and I turned around and Brenda was in the mirror, okay, bending over, doing his hair with just a jock strap on. So my mum dines out on that. She always tells that story where she saw Brendan Cole's bottom. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so um we did that tour. And then, of course, we had COVID. Um, I did another short tour after that. Then basically, I got divorced, and um it's just kind of bringing us up to um current day. What is your FitSteps program? Ah, FitSteps, you know, this is funny. Uh, I was I was talking about writing my book the other day, and um I've got somebody helping me, and uh I went through all of the stuff, you know, my whole life, and and I'd forgotten about Fit Steps, which is such a massive part. Um 11 years ago, I um I I'd started this many years. Like I when I was living in Holland, I remember going past fitness classes like Les Mills and thinking, oh, you know, these 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? Um, and so I had that in the back of my head, and obviously Zumba was very big at the time as well, it's massive. So um I thought, well, I'll become a Zumba instructor. So I I learned that when I kind of left Strictly, and I taught that a bit, and um, and I loved it, but I thought, you know, ballroom dancing is so different to this, so I went about creating my My own Borum and Latin based dance fitness program. So I'd done that and I started teaching it quite a bit. It was very successful. 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? Um so we spent a year creating FitSteps and then we launched it about 10 years ago, 10 and a half years ago. And um, yeah, it's been it's been amazing. We got a thousand instructors across the UK and across the world. Um and we have about 850 subscribers to our app, which we created during COVID because we knew there was a market for it, and um kind of flew. So, 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. What it's done is it's kept me fit as well, because you know, I'm 53 and and I'm still doing the classes myself. I got a class tonight, actually, uh in Wokingham. And um yeah, I love it. And the fact that I can do a class which is boring and Latin base, which is what I do, which is what my body knows, um, is amazing for me. And and people love it because it's like strictly, any any any lady can do this dance, get fit, do all the moves off of Strictly, and it's like it's and you don't need a partner, so it's perfect.
SPEAKER_02:Well, listen, it's uh it's been a pleasure talking to you. And I guess in the uh in the well, I was gonna say 20 20 plus, I mean, like like 30 years really since since a professional dance life began for you. It's uh it's been a whirlwind of stories and experiences and and fantastic success. I mean, what what have we got to look forward to uh either coming out soon or where's the next five or ten years of uh who knows?
SPEAKER_00:I do I do think you know I've I'm doing a course of NLP later on this year. So hopefully that'll give me some some sort of clarity as to what I'm gonna do in the future. But um, over the next couple of months, I've got 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, and James Jordan, the five of us.
SPEAKER_02:People listening or watching, they can they can buy tickets for that now. They can Google it and find out.
SPEAKER_00:Buy tickets. Uh, I know we're probably doing a show next year as well. I know the pretty much the tickets sold out within a week of going on sale. So we had to include matinees. So we've in we've uh we've added six matinees. So hopefully you'll be able to get a ticket. Fantastic. Fingers crossed.
SPEAKER_02:Well, thanks a lot again for being here, buddy. It's been a pleasure, and uh, look forward to keeping in touch.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Matt.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you. Brilliant.
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