Brendan Cole was close to tears as he confirmed he has been axed from Strictly Come Dancing on Tuesday. The 41-year-old dancer appeared on Lorraine, where was announced he has left the BBC dance show after 15 series. "It's quite hard to talk about," the visibly-upset star said. "The BBC haven't renewed my contract. We get contracted year upon year. They've made an editorial decision to not have me back on the show. I'm a little bit in shock. I'm quite emotional, a bit raw about it. It's done via a process of a phone call and stuff. I have had 15 incredible series on the show. I'm very proud of the whole show. It's a great team. I'm disappointed. It's very hard to talk about. It's a recent decision."
© Photo: RexBrendan Cole was visibly upset as he confirmed he has been axed from Strictly Come Dancing
The star continued: "I've always known this day would come. To get to this point, the BBC make the decisions year upon year. It's an editorial decision. I'm sure I'll never know the ins and outs. I'm a very strong character within the show, I have my strong views." Of his sometimes argumentative nature, Brendan added: "Some do [like it] some don't. I love that side of the show. I like being a character on the show. They look at the show every year, I've never been contracted more than one year."
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The New Zealand-born dancer reiterated that he had wanted to stay on the show, saying: "I've always said as long as I've got a passion for it I want to be there. My passion is still very much there. I'll miss being part of the team. I'll miss being a Strictly dancer. It's kind of weird to imagine yourself not having that as your… I do a lot of other things of course, but the main thing I've been known for is to be a dancer on Strictly. Very odd to even say this out loud. It feels quite raw. I don't want to be sad about it but at the same time I'll miss my gang. The pros on the show at the moment are a phenomenal bunch."
© Photo: RexThe 41-year-old took part in 15 series of the BBC dance show
He added: "It's their [the BBC's] decision, the powers that be within the BBC, they'll have a vision of the show and I'm not part of the vision, that's OK. Listen, I accept, you've got to accept what decisions are made. I would have preferred to have made the decision myself, but maybe I would never have made it because I love being on the show. The last five years I haven't really made much of a noise on the show with my partners, they haven't been able to do what I've wanted to do. No disrespect to them. I haven't had one of the ones that had a bit of dance experience that you can really challenge.
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"So it's one of those things where you go, I've asked this question many times of myself, 'When do I leave?' Every year, I've gone, 'I love the show too much'. I love the fact that I've been there from the start. I feel like I've made a massive difference to the show and to the show that it is today. I will always have that."
