Anton Du Beke appeared on The One Show yesterday (April 24) to pay a highly emotional tribute to former Strictly judge Len Goodman.
Len sadly died of bone cancer on April 22, just days before his 79th birthday. Anton teared up as he paid tribute to his friend and the former Strictly head judge.
Anton Du Beke’s emotional tribute to Len Goodman
Anton joined Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas to give a heartfelt tribute to his former Strictly co-star and friend.
Anton emotionally told viewers: “Len had that wonderful capacity… he was different from everybody else. As we know from Strictly Come Dancing, he was as you saw him on Strictly Come Dancing. He was incredible, he had that sort of rogueish aspect about him as well. But you wanted him to like what you did. And that, for me, remained for my whole career whenever he was judging. If I saw the marks of a judge at the end of a competition, I would look at Len’s marks and see how he marked me.”
We would spend all those hours chatting and laughing. He was funny, and brilliant and interesting.
He continued: “On Strictly Come Dancing, I would value his comments above anybody else’s comments because he knew exactly what I was trying to do. There was no ‘let’s try and do this to please Len’. To know him for 40 years, we became great friends, we spent a lot of time together. Either travelling around in the business or working on Strictly together. We played a lot of golf together too. The great thing about golf is that it takes a long time, so you get to spend time with somebody. We would spend all those hours chatting and laughing. He was funny, and brilliant and interesting.”
Anton fought back tears
As Anton closed his tribute to Len, he revealed what the TV star told him before he became a Strictly judge back in 2021. Anton revealed: “He said to me when I got the job…” before choking up. He continued: “Ridiculous, isn’t it? When I got the job, he said, “Say what you see, and be yourself.” And that was exactly as Len was. He was himself. I was lucky enough to know him for a long time.”
Wiping away tears, Anton added he was “lucky to call Len a friend”, and an emotional Alex Jones replied: “Aw, what a lovely tribute.”
A fitting tribute to the wonderful Len Goodman 🧡 pic.twitter.com/61mlWwNkKc
— BBC The One Show (@BBCTheOneShow) April 24, 2023
Many viewers found themselves emotional while watching Anton’s tribute too. One fan wrote: “Poor Anton, you really shed a tear for Len Goodman he will be sadly missed by all the Strictly family and all his family at this very sad time. RIP Len, we will miss you.” A second person added: “Beautiful tribute by Anton, wanted to give him a hug so he could shed the tears he was trying so hard to keep back.”
Read more: Len Goodman death: Aljaz Skorjanec shares final conversation with Strictly legend
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