Anthony Ogogo: "the Strictly judges were quite harsh with me from the get-go"
Dancer says he feels he was not give a chance after being voted out of the competition - and says that Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood didn't even bother to say goodbye to him
Anthony Ogogo says he feels he wasn’t given much of chance by the Strictly Come Dancing judges – joking that he wouldn’t mind getting three of them in a boxing ring.
The dancer, who was tonight voted out of the show, told RadioTimes.com in a conference call that his shoulder injury meant that he wasn’t able to show what he could do and that the judges did not make allowances for him.
“I do think the judges were quite harsh with me from the get-go," he said. "From the first week I was scored quite harshly. Week one I did a jive, a really, really difficult routine, and they criticised me. When I came back there was no sense of ‘well done on correcting this’ – they were finding more things to highlight….your hands are wrong, your arms are wrong."
He added that his mistreatment continued after he became the second celebrity to depart the Strictly Come Dancing 2015 dance floor.
Darcey Bussell consoled him and said he was "too good" to exit on week three, he claimed. But Ogogo added that the other three judges – Bruno Tonioli, Craig Revel Horwood and Len Goodman – did not even say goodbye.
“The other three, they just b******d off! Didn’t even say ‘goodbye’, ‘well done’, nothing….”
Asked if he would like to get the judges in the boxing ring, he said: “Definitely! Get them all in three in the ring, get Len, Craig and Bruno in the ring. I will take them all on together.”
Ogogo paid tribute to dancing partner Oti Mabuse, but added that he was hampered by his lack of profile as well as his poorly shoulder.
“My injury definitely hindered me – I couldn’t get my hand up high and I wanted to show [the judges] what I can do. I can do acrobatics and I was hoping to show some of that and add a bit of pizzazz to the dancing. I felt a bit gutted and I gave it my all.
“I was probably the person in the show with the smallest fan base. I am not a BBC face, I am not Katie Derham, I am not Jeremy Vine, I am not a BBC voice. I have got the smallest fan base. Boxing isn’t mainstream and I have tried to make it mainstream and to smile to the camera and show off my personality. But sometimes boxing isn’t people’s cup of tea. At 6.30pm on a Saturday evening, there’s me, scowling face, at the camera. It does scream a bit aggressive.”
He said that his rivals for the Strictly crown had an edge on him, pointing out that Peter Andre had danced as a pop star and actress Helen George has trained in ballet.
“I was a complete novice and the whole experience was very nerve-wracking. It was quite a traumatic experience.
“I am no Patrick Swayze…but I had a great time and I think I did a pretty good job with the tools at my disposal. I would have liked a few more weeks in the competition."
He said that he will probably not seek to return to the show again next year and wanted to concentrate on his boxing career.
“This is going to make me work harder on my boxing. I hope I never lose a boxing match after that experience,” he said. “If I feel this upset after getting out of Strictly, imagine how upset I would be losing a boxing match?
"But I am proud of what I did. I gave it a good go… but I am not begging to do it again. For the time being I am going to concentrate on my boxing.”
