Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Brendan Cole has spoken out for the first time after facing criticism for his comments about Welsh dancer Amy Dowden, insisting his remarks were not personal and that he did not consider her cancer battle when making them.
Appearing on Channel 5's Jeremy Vine alongside former colleague James Jordan, the New Zealander, who left the show in 2017, addressed the backlash directly. He had previously said of Dowden: "To be a pro on Strictly is a big job and one has to be up to the challenge. Amy has not been up to the challenge, in my opinion."
His criticism continued: "I don't think Amy's been doing a very good job for the last few years and she's been out first for the last few years. One can do the maths on that." Cole also claimed he could see the 36-year-old "counting in" her partners, which he saw as a sign the "job has not been done".
Dowden's response
Dowden, who announced she was cancer-free in February 2024 after being diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer the previous year, had told the Mirror what she thought of his remarks. She said: "I'll be honest, what do you expect from him? It's fine. I've never been brought up to be personal, and in this day and age especially I think it's so important to be kind, and to think about the next generation."
She added: "I always try to use my platform in the right way. I work with various charities. But also I want to be the right kind of role model. I run a dance academy and all my little boys and girls really look up to me. That's important."
Cole sets the record straight
On Friday's Jeremy Vine show, Cole said: "I haven't spoken about this, by the way, because actually I didn't want to make a big deal of it, it's not a big deal." He explained: "I didn't mention the fact she had cancer. I didn't even think about it when I made my comments about whether she was good enough on the show or not. I'm paid to speak about the show and you give your points of view for every couple."
He said: "I was asked the question 'was it right Amy went at the weekend' and I said 'yes it was, absolutely'. She wasn't doing a particularly good job of late." When host Jeremy Vine asked whether the cancer had even crossed his mind, Cole replied: "If I'm critiquing somebody that's got one leg, I don't go 'I'm going to have to go lenient on them because they've got one leg'. If you're in a competition, you're in a competition."
He added: "To go on the record, I love Amy, I think she's a lovely girl, she's a beautiful dancer, I didn't think she did a particularly good job on the show this year. That was my point. I didn't think about the fact she had survived cancer."
Reflecting on his own career
Cole also reflected on his own time on the show, saying: "I performed 150, 200 routines on the show throughout my 15 series. Were all of the dances good? Absolutely not. I was not brilliant every single week. I was pretty good most weeks but there were definitely weeks I let myself down and I probably let my partner down, that's just the way it goes - we cannot be brilliant all the time."
Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, while Jeremy Vine is on Channel 5 on weekdays.
