Anthony Paul Beke (born 20 July 1966), known professionally as Anton Du Beke (/duːˈbɛk/), is a British ballroom and Latin dancer, author and television presenter, best known for being a professional dancer and a judge on the BBC One celebrity dancing show Strictly Come Dancing. His professional dance partner since 1997 has been Erin Boag.
In 2009 he presented the United Kingdom version of Hole in the Wall for the BBC, replacing Dale Winton, after being a team captain in 2008. In November 2017 he released his debut studio album, From the Top, on Polydor Records. It reached number 21 on the UK Albums Chart.
Family and early life
Du Beke was born as Anthony Paul Beke on 20 July 1966 in Tonbridge, Kent, to a Hungarian father, Antal Xavier Beke [1](1939–2001), and a Spanish mother, Ascensión "Conchita" Lema.[2] He has two younger siblings, brother Stephen and sister Veronica.[3] He grew up in Sevenoaks, Kent, and attended Wildernesse School.[4] Du Beke has discussed his father's problems with alcoholism and revealed that he was stabbed by his father in the leg and stomach during a Boxing Day altercation at their home in Kent.[5]
Du Beke began dancing at 14, when he discovered his local dance school, the Holton School of Dancing in Sevenoaks.[4] He had three partners during these formative years before the Holton School of Dancing closed in 1987. Du Beke left school at 16 to follow an amateur dancing career.[4] At 17, he decided to specialise in ballroom. While he danced during the evenings and at weekends, he had a day job as a salesman in "The Bed Post" in Petts Wood, South London.[4] He dated television presenter Caroline Feraday from 2007 to 2008.[3]
Du Beke lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife Hannah Summers. In November 2016 the couple announced they were expecting twins, due in spring 2017.[6] His son George and daughter Henrietta were born on 30 March 2017.[7]
Career
Dance career
Du Beke's regular professional partner is New Zealand-born Erin Boag. They met in 1997, and won both the Closed (New Zealand only) and Open to the World categories of the 1998 and 1999 New Zealand Championships.[8] They turned professional in 2002, placing 3rd in the UK in that same year, and were British National Finalists in 2002, 2003, and 2004.[9] In November 2003, they won the IDTA Classic in Brighton.[10][9] They balanced competing with teaching, coaching, among others, the Cambridge University ballroom dancing team, one of the top-ranked student teams in the country.[11][12][13] When they were scouted for Strictly Come Dancing in 2004, Anton and Erin were ranked 14th in the world among professional ballrooms dancers.[14] They joined the show assuming that it would only last for one series, and that they would return to the circuit after its run and continue to pursue their goal of winning the world championships and were completely unprepared for Strictly’s immediate massive popularity with the viewing public.[15] Although they continued to compete for the first two series of the show, they retired from the competitive arena after realizing that they had to choose between dancing professionally and committing fully to training their celebrity partners.
In series eight, he partnered Conservative politician Ann Widdecombe. Despite Widdecombe's poor dancing ability, they made it through to the quarter final. For its ninth series, Nancy Dell'Olio was Anton's partner; the couple were eliminated in week five. His partner for the tenth series was model and actress Jerry Hall. They were eliminated in week three. His partner for series eleven was actress Fiona Fullerton. They were eliminated in week eight in Blackpool. For the show's twelfth series, his partner was tennis coach Judy Murray. They were also eliminated in week eight in Blackpool. For series thirteen, Du Beke was partnered with newscaster and presenter Katie Derham; they made it to Du Beke's first final in all thirteen series and were eliminated in fourth place.
In series fourteen, Du Beke was partnered with actress Lesley Joseph. They were eliminated in week five. In series fifteen in 2017, Du Beke was paired with television presenter Ruth Langsford. In 2018 Anton was partnered with Fashion Journalist Susannah Constantine. They finished last (the first time Du Beke had ever done this) with an average of 12.00 (Du Beke's lowest). For the 17th series, he was partnered with Emma Barton. In Week nine, Du Beke received his first 10s in all seventeen series for their American Smooth; the couple received a total of fifteen 10s during the series. They finished joint runners-up alongside Karim Zeroual and Amy Dowden, but lost out to Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse. In 2020 Du Beke was partnered with former home secretary Jacqui Smith. They were eliminated in week two (first), Du Beke's second time finishing last.
Du Beke has also appeared in a number of Children in Need and Christmas Specials of Strictly Come Dancing. In 2008 he won the Children in Need 2008 special, dancing an American Smooth with Tess Daly. He danced once again with Anne Widdecombe in the 2012 Children in Need special but lost out to Russell Grant and Flavia Cacace. He did however go on to win the Children in Need 2014 special where he and fellow dancer Natalie Lowe taught a group of children how to dance. Du Beke has also reprised his partnerships with Lesley Garret and Ann Widdecombe for the 2004 and 2018 Christmas specials, respectively. He has also danced with Ronni Ancona, Su Pollard, Katy Brand and Denise Lewis in the respective 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2016 Christmas specials. In 2015 Du Beke served as a judge on The People's Strictly, a one off version of the show where non-celebrities compete for the charity Comic Relief. In 2020, he reprised his role as a judge for weeks four and five to fill in for Motsi Mabuse, who needed to quarantine after travelling to Germany. On 24 June 2021, it was announced that Du Beke would become a permanent judge on Strictly Come Dancing from series nineteen, starting in September 2021, replacing Bruno Tonioli.[16]
Laila Rouass comment
In 2009, Du Beke said that his dance partner Laila Rouass "looked like a paki" after she had arrived at rehearsal with a spray tan. Du Beke apologized publicly,[17][18] and reiterated his remarks on It Takes Two, Strictly Come Dancing's companion show, stating that, "I feel embarrassed. I feel stupid as well. It was a stupid thing to do, stupid thing to say...I am mortified about it completely and, you know, Laila has been quite remarkably wonderful."[19] Rouass accepted his apology,[19] and stated in a 2011 interview: "The story had been blown out of proportion...Anton didn’t mean to be offensive. I wouldn’t have danced with him if he was racist."[20] In 2016, she backed him to be a Strictly judge: "I think Anton would be a fabulous judge. He’s so funny, I can’t tell you. I was so lucky to be paired with that man."[21]
In March 2007 Du Beke was a contestant on the BBC Two series The Underdog Show and was paired with homeless dog Ginger. They were eliminated in week three of the competition.[citation needed]
Du Beke has presented the BBC cookery show Step Up to the Plate. He served as a captain and from series 2 was the host on the UK version of Hole in the Wall, which premiered on 20 September 2008 on BBC One. On 24 December 2009, he appeared in Victoria Wood's Midlife Christmas, in a sketch called "Beyond The Marigolds", where he spoofed his Strictly Come Dancing role by being paired with fictional soap star "Bo Beaumont" (played by Julie Walters). Beaumont quit the show when unable to master Du Beke's warm-up steps.[citation needed]
In 2011, Du Beke was the first guest on the CBBC talk show Hacker Time.
During the week of 5 to 9 May 2014, Du Beke appeared on Channel 4 game show Draw It!.[22]
In early 2023, Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice appeared in the travel mini series Anton & Giovanni's Adventures in Sicily.[24] In 2024, this was followed by Anton & Giovanni's Adventures in Spain.[25]
Du Beke has released a book called Anton's Dance Class which was serialised in the Mail on Sunday.[28] Du Beke also wrote an A–Z of ballroom dancing, B is for Ballroom.[29]
Buckingham Hotel series
In October 2018, Du Beke released his debut novel One Enchanted Evening. Du Beke has now released six novels in the series which have all been set around the Buckingham Hotel and characters Raymond and Nancy. A 7th book is due to be released in 2024 and 8th in 2025.
