Anton Du Beke admits he was 'a lunatic' before his Strictly days

Anton Du Beke has admitted that he was "a lunatic" before his Strictly days.

The star, 57, is now well known for being a judge on the BBC ballroom show and before that he was one of the programme's professional dancers for 17 years.

But he has shared that back when he was competing as a dancer and forging his career, he felt a lot of anger.

Talking about what he was like at 26, the TV star said on the How To Be 60 podcast: "I was so driven and so determined, it was almost destructive... I was like a lunatic."

He went on: "I’d get frustrated and get so angry all the time and I just hated everybody. I just wanted to beat everybody."

The Strictly judge said that he was in a "really competitive world". "I didn’t want to be your friend, no interest in that at all," he admitted. "I wanted to beat you badly, really really badly, I wanted to beat you a lot."

Du Beke, who is now married and dad to six-year-old twins, revealed that back then he "didn’t have time for relationships" as it would have been a distraction.

"I couldn't be doing with any of that," Du Beke said, saying he just didn't have time for it. "Winning was everything," he explained. "That was the whole point of it."

The star joined Strictly Come Dancing when he was in his 30s and also said that it could have been "a disaster" if he had joined in his 20s.

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