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Anton Du Beke revealed that dance troupe Diversity wouldn’t have been crowned Britain’s Got Champions if it wasn’t for Strictly Come Dancing.
The street dance group – which was led by Ashley Banjo – formed around 2007, won £100,000 and a slot at that year’s Blackpool-based Royal Variety Performance – allowing them to showcase their talents before the Royal Family.
Diversity wowed judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan in their initial audition – earning three well-deserved ‘yes’ votes, quickly advancing through the competition.
And to this day, they remain one of the biggest acts ever to emerge from the ITV show.
During Thursday’s This Morning Strictly judge Anton – who has appeared on the popular BBC series since 2004 – believes the programme’s impact made people appreciate different forms of dance.
‘When Strictly started we started to share audiences,’ he told Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
Anton also discussed his latest book The Royal Show (Picture: ITV)
The troupe took home the trophy in 2009 (Picture: ITV)
‘People started to watch Strictly, then Dancing On Ice became pretty popular with Jayne [Torvill] and Christopher [Dean] and the whole world started to open up.’
He continued: ‘Then a few years later Diversity go and win Britain’s Got Talent, without Strictly Come Dancing I’m convinced that would’ve never happened, because people weren’t open to dance.
‘It was always at the bottom of the mainstream, and it’s the most wonderful thing because dance is such an incredible medium for performance and expression, and it should be treated as equally as everything else.’
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Anton recently had Strictly fans amazed during the live tour in Belfast after he swung his co-judge Shirley Ballas in a gravity-defying headbanger.
Yes really!
Despite the risks, Shirley went into it head first (literally) and put her life in Anton’s hands.
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV.
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‘People weren’t open to dance.’