Comedian Bill Bailey has said he was asked “four or five times over the years” to take part in Strictly Come Dancing.
The actor and musician signed up for the 2020 series and made Strictly history when, aged 55 at the time, he became the oldest winner of the BBC show alongside his professional partner Oti Mabuse.
Bailey, now 57, told Jay Rayner on his podcast Out To Lunch about being asked many times before he eventually took part, explaining: “What I objected to was the relentlessness of it.”
He said: “I just thought, I’ll never be able to commit to this amount of time. It’s ridiculous. And then of course, you know, a once-in-a-century pandemic comes on.”
The Never Mind the Buzzcocks panel star spoke about work being cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
He told food critic Rayner: “All of this work was just disappearing out the door, all the live gigs. Gradually, they all went like dominoes, they all disappeared. I tried doing Zoom gigs, online stuff, and it’s pretty grim.”
More than 13 million people tuned in to watch Bailey see off competition from HRVY, Maisie Smith and Jamie Laing in the live final.
But Bailey said his expectations for the show had been “very low” before taking part.
He added: “I mean, my dance skills are very much basically flailing enthusiastically.
“I’ve never done any choreography. I’ve never taken dance classes. I didn’t even know what the hell I’m doing. So I might end up being the kind of novelty contestant.”
Let’s go #OutToLunch. This time I take the great @BillBailey to the @Wigmore_London for the best cheese toastie in town. We talk strictly dance moves, extremely large pigeons, losing Sean Lock and opportunities taken away by Covid. Have a link. https://t.co/W1ijANdrQE pic.twitter.com/kfEIslFjSH
— Jay Rayner (@jayrayner1) March 15, 2022
The comedian also praised his former dance partner, new Dancing On Ice judge Mabuse, for winning the show for two consecutive years – with him and soap star Kelvin Fletcher.
“It’s unprecedented,” he said.
“No professional has won it two years consecutively. I think they thought, well, Bill’s a safe bet and I don’t think anyone expected me to do well.”
Bailey took the record as oldest winner from Joe McFadden, who won in 2017, aged 42.
Their couple’s choice dance to Rapper’s Delight by The Sugarhill Gang was a standout moment in the series.
Out To Lunch with Jay Rayner is available on all major podcast platforms.