Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke has opened up about almost quitting his dance career before an opportunity on the show came along.
Starting out in the dance world later than others, the 58-year-old said he was a “lunatic” who was “obsessed” with winning.
At the start of his journey, he regularly competed with his fellow professional dancer Erin Boag, but it wasn’t always plain sailing.
After meeting in 1997, the pair went on to win the 1998 and 1999 New Zealand Championships and three years later, they turned professional.
Despite the successes, Anton said he tended to get “upset” when they didn’t win or received negative feedback.
Recalling a particular moment which left him “depressed”, he said: “I remember, we did a competition, a big competition. We did the French Open in Paris and did really badly.
“I mean, so badly, in this competition and I was really depressed about the whole thing.
“And, we weren’t getting on very well. Everything was a battle. We had not a penny, you know, I earnt £100 a week and spent £120.
Anton added on Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time podcast: “Everything was horrendous. Danced badly, not doing very well in competitions and that was everything to me.”
The judge said during this period of time, he had “an internal crisis” where he considered giving up his career before talking himself out of it.
“[I remember] thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to have to chuck this in because I’m wasting my life’.”
The father-of-two said on the other hand, he realised he didn’t have a passion for anything else so decided to stick at it and work harder.
After becoming more recognised, he was then offered the role of a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing, which began in 2004.
In 2021, it was announced he will be switching roles from the dance floor to the judging panel, and has remained there ever since.
Along with judge Craig Revel Horwood, the pair remain as the longest-serving stars of the show, who share judging duties alongside Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse.