Brendan Cole, the New Zealand ballroom dancer who won the first series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing with newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky in 2004, has admitted he set out to make sure singer Lulu was voted off the show early so she would not qualify for a bigger fee.
Cole, 50, said that on Strictly, celebrities but not professional dancers began earning more money the further they progressed in the competition. "In 2011, I made it my life's work to ensure Lulu, the singer, didn't get to Blackpool, which was usually halfway through the series, and qualify for a raised fee," he said. "We did not hit it off, to say the very least."
From roofer to ballroom dancer
Cole left school at 16 and worked as a roofer and then as an unskilled labourer before dancing full time. Aged 18 he competed at the World Championships in Ukraine, stopping in England beforehand to train.
He said walking into the Simply Ballroom dance school in south London convinced him instantly that the UK would be his future, and he moved there permanently after the Ukraine competition. To fund his ambition of turning professional, he worked as a cleaner at the Hard Rock Cafe, a builder in Croydon and for a luggage brand.
Strictly pay packets
Cole appeared on Strictly Come Dancing from 2004 to 2017. He said joining the show cut his income compared with what he and his dance and romantic partner at the time, Camilla Dallerup, had been earning on the professional circuit, where they made about £120,000 a year between them.
He was initially paid a flat fee of £11,000 by Strictly, which rose over the years to £14,000, then £17,000 and £21,000, before jumping to £25,000, £35,000 and £40,000. By the time he left in 2017, he was earning £51,000. He said it frustrated him that new professionals joining at that point received the same fee as him.
His best-paid job, he said, was Love Island in 2006, for which he was paid between £30,000 and £40,000, far more than the roughly £14,000 he was earning on Strictly at the time.
Best and worst financial years
Cole said his best financial year came immediately after he left Strictly in 2017, when he was free to tour with his own shows and could earn five or occasionally six-figure sums, having previously spent six months of each year committed to the BBC show and its UK tour.
His worst year came during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he said the Government "decimated" the live entertainment industry and he did not work for a year and a half. With a wife, two children in private school and three mortgages, on a flat in west London, a house in Buckinghamshire and a property in Majorca, he said the period was tough, having had no savings set aside.
Property deals and pension regrets
Cole named buying two Teslas when they first launched as an indulgent purchase he would not recommend, given how quickly the cars lose value, though he does not regret spending around £5,000 each on two Tom Ford suits.
His biggest financial mistake, he said, was buying four off-plan properties in Manchester and Liverpool as part of a deal that cost him £50,000 for no real return. His best decision was buying a flat in Parsons Green, west London, in 2008 at the height of the financial downturn, which he later sold seven years on for a profit of £290,000.
He had to sell his UK properties when his career slowed so he could keep paying for the house in Majorca, which is now the only property he owns. He and his family now rent in the UK. He also said putting money into a pension was the worst financial decision he made, as he could not access the funds when he needed them.
Family priorities and tour plans
Cole, who lives in Oxfordshire with his wife Zoe and their children Aurelia, 13, and Dante, eight, said he wants to set his children up with sound financial advice rather than have them rely on handouts in later life. His top financial priority, he said, is paying for his children's education.
Asked what he would do if made Chancellor, Cole said he would remove all tax for anyone earning £50,000 or less and scrap VAT on school fees.
Cole will tour the UK from October with a 30-date show called The Legends in Vegas: After Hours, alongside fellow professional dancers Vincent Simone, Ian Waite, Pasha Kovalev and James Jordan. Tickets are on sale through venues, Ticketmaster and legendsofthedancefloor.com.
