Anton du Beke quotes:

My perfect morning is spent drinking coffee, eating porridge and reading the paper at a local cafe.

Frank Sinatra was a great singer, but my favourite is Sammy Davis Jr. He had incredible versatility in his voice, often doing impressions of people. It's always going to be classic, and you'll never get bored listening.

Ballroom is two people dancing together to music, touching in perfect harmony.

I just like to sit and admire my garden; it's so well kept by my gardener and my girlfriend.

My old dance teacher, Jimmy Wilde, a former European ballroom dancing champion, was so sophisticated.

I don't like the Samba; it's nonsense. With a lot of these Latin dances I can't really understand what they're all about. I like the Rumba and the Paso Doble but the others I could take or leave.

I always enjoy the process, meeting somebody new and spending time with them and becoming friends with them. That has always been the joy of 'Strictly' for me, so I enjoy every year.

I went professional with my partner, Erin Boag, 11 years ago, and we had success competing round the world, but appearing on 'Strictly' has changed my life.

I was one of those people who just flitted about in life. I had no plans and no sense of direction.

The worst question is, 'Where do you see yourself in five years?' I don't know. Variety is the spice of life. That's the best way to describe it.

I remember watching the Three Tenors at the World Cup in 1990, and it was amazing. They made opera accessible to the man in the street.

One day, I just wandered into a dance class full of girls, and that was it. I thought, 'Hang on! I'll have a bit of this.' I went back a week later and got dragged up by the teacher. It wasn't a massive calling.

If I do find myself walking up the aisle and dancing at my own wedding reception, I want the first dance to be both spontaneous and dramatic.

I'm going for Britain's Best Dressed Man award, but strangely, I'm never on the list.

When you dance together, there's a fabulous interaction. It's quite intimate. You're touching your partner, leading them. Learning how to behave in that person's proximity is a skill. I love it. I can't imagine tiring of it.

Because we had no other relatives living in the U.K., me, my parents and my siblings continuously journeyed abroad to bond with our extended family.

I've never worried about being rich or famous - for me, it's all about the dancing.

I'm busier than ever and it's led to new opportunities. But I've never worried about being rich or famous - for me, it's all about the dancing.

I just get grumpy with bad behaviour.

As I grew up, I wasn't a great buyer of albums, but I really liked 'The Jam.' I like good musicians and loved the energy of their songs.

There is not a lot of money in competition dancing. There never has been; it's all about winning the trophies, really. It's not like golf.

You spend your life having lessons, practising and competing as an amateur, and working during the day. As you get to the top end of the amateur field, you try not to work anymore; you earn your living through dancing, maybe by doing a bit of teaching. It's an ongoing life's work.

Give up smoking. Don't get so fat. So much illness is self-induced - which I can't stand. And I'm not a good nursemaid. Don't call me if you're ill.

At places like Chelsea, often the garden displays are so big and grand that you'd never be able to have them at home.

When I'm dancing with any woman, I immediately get rid of intimacy barriers. I just give her a big hug and crack on.

Having been part of this wonderful show ever since series one, I know all too well what it's like to perform to the nation on the famous 'Strictly Come Dancing' dancefloor.

I get really very upset when I'm voted out, and I feel very disappointed.

I've been playing golf as long as I've been dancing, since I was 13 or 14. I play off six. I like to get out on a golf course as often as I can.

I wish I'd become a professional dancer sooner. I did other jobs - like baking - while dancing part-time, and didn't commit until I was 29.

My favourite dance is the Foxtrot. It's a proper dance with proper music. It has class.

Too many multi-vitamins are packaged as one size fits all, but you should be more specific about what you need. When I was competing as a dancer, I took zinc for healthy skin and immune system.

My goal is to be the best TV presenter, the best entertainer, the best singer. I still want to be the best dancer. I want to be the best at everything I do.

I look better with a tan, but I've never gone the fake route. I don't need to - I have good foreign genes: half Spanish, half Hungarian.

It's great that ballroom dancing is being recognised. For many years ballroom dancers were misunderstood and other dance forms didn't want anything to do with us.

Ballroom dancing: it's a wonderful thing at so many levels because you've got to follow the rules. They used to call those rules etiquette once upon a time, but you don't really have that any more.

Since being involved in 'Strictly Come Dancing,' my life has changed completely. I can't walk down the street without women throwing themselves at me, I usually wouldn't mind, but they are of a certain age. Hopefully, after this series, they will bring their daughters!

I'd like to do a kind of 'Sunday Night At The Palladium'-style variety show on the BBC.

The thing about me is that I love variety. I like to try new things, and I don't want to be pinned back.

Being fit is the easiest part of being a dance professional. I used to just throw on a backpack full of rocks and run up a hill. You don't even have to go to a gym.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist; the ballroom is all about tails and I never mess about with that. But for the Latin you can have a bit fun: tight trousers, gold shirt open to my waist, be a bit ridiculous.

I go through money like a bloke with three arms.

I have a magnificent chin and a long, odd-shaped face. As a result, I always look better in collars.

My father is Hungarian and moved to Britain during the uprising, and my Spanish mum comes from Galicia; they moved here at the end of the Fifties.

The Ritz in London has an old-fashioned charm, with waiters wearing tails and white gloves. The dining room is exquisite, with immaculate service and ornate details.

I think cookery shows have become so sophisticated, and everyone's so marvellous at it, but there are people like me who aren't into the cooking malarkey, who still don't know how to boil an egg for three minutes.

I worked as an interior designer. I worked as a furniture salesman. I worked as a financial adviser. I worked as a painter and decorator - that wasn't for very long. I was a baker for about four-and-a-half years.

I like to get up and get out. Otherwise you end up kicking about, and it's easy to flick the telly on; then before you know it, it is 11 A.M. and you haven't done anything.

Being a competitive dancer is an expensive business - you have to buy the ú2,000 or so tail suit and the shoes, and then get yourself around the world to the competitions. And there is not a lot of money to be made in competing.

Strictly' is a bit like scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final or sinking the final putt in the Ryder Cup - only a few people get the opportunity to do it, and they have got to be famous.

Life's supposed to be an adventure, a surprise!

I want to do lots of exciting, varied, interesting things. That's what I want to do.

I do watch what I eat, but I don't make it myself. When I eat out, I just have to make sure the things I buy are good and healthy.

A dancer's career is short - you just keep going until your legs pack up.

I know what I'm good at, and if I'm asked to do something I'm not - like hip-hop dancing - I get self-conscious.

If things don't go fantastically, you just have to deal with it.

My only drive was to be the best dancer in the world, but I never won the world championship.

Sadly, it has often been said that my rear is better than my front, so thank you very much indeed.

With the media how it is these days, people expect to know everything. I don't talk about my girlfriend because essentially she doesn't want to be talked about.