Kevin Clifton reveals he nearly U-turned on decision to quit Strictly

KEVIN Clifton quit Strictly Come Dancing this year, thinking the profile he had built up on the show meant he had a great future ahead of him.

But as so many before him have found out, it very rarely works that way — and now he has finally realised it.

The pro dancer revealed he nearly U-turned on his decision, but bottled it. He said: “There were a couple of conversations about it, like, is it worth talking about it?

“But then I thought, I’ve just made this big announcement. I don’t want to look like an idiot.

“I like doing different things and I don’t want to get in a moment where I’m doing the same thing for the sake of it because it’s perceived to be successful. When I was having the conversations with Strictly about when is the right time for me to make this decision, I am thinking about it this year but maybe not, maybe in another year or two, I don’t know.

“We’re having a constant conversation, and at the moment I feel I’ve pretty much done everything there is to do on the show.”

The Sun has told how Kevin, who has been married three times and is now dating his former dance partner Stacey Dooley, told pals he quit Strictly because he felt he had outgrown it.

He added: “I want to do more singing and acting and that type of stuff. I love Strictly, there’s no part of me that left because of any issues or anything like that. I’ve been offered this role in Strictly Ballroom, something I’ve always wanted to do. 

“I can either do this dream thing or I can stay doing this (Strictly) because it’s the big successful thing.”

Unluckily for Kev, the Strictly Ballroom musical has been put back a year, while BBC’s Strictly is about to start filming.

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Jez back as Kurt lives on

HOLLYOAKS original Jeremy Edwards is heading back to the soap despite his character getting killed off in a jet-ski accident in 1999.

The actor – once engaged to S Club Seven singer Rachel Stevens – played Kurt Benson from the start of the Channel 4 series in 1995 and is returning as the show celebrates turning 25.

Kurt briefly returned in 2013 for Hollyoaks: Later – as a hallucination in best pal Tony Hutchinson’s mind.

Kurt’s resurrection follows Nico Blake’s in 2018, Mercedes McQueen’s in 2015 and Warren Fox’s in 2010.

If his first stint is anything to go by – a murder bid, affairs and drug use – then the character’s return will be anything but quiet.

bizbit

LILY Collins says we need more romcoms such as Notting Hill and Love Actually. Speaking to RadioTimes ahead of her Netflix series Emily In Paris, she said: “Films like that don’t get made any more, even though that’s what we need.” 

Big nuts take the biscuit

BISCUIT week does not see The Great British Bake Off get any less filthy.

Judge Prue Leith tells contestant Mark that she is worried about his nuts during the first challenge to make a Florentine biscuit. 

She says: “I remember worrying a bit about your very large nuts.”

Later in tomorrow night’s episode, Matt Lucas reckons Mark’s next bake looks as though it could be a pair of boobs. 

The comic says: “A nipple there and a nipple there. They are like breasts.”

And Mark replies: “There’s no denying that.”

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