Strictly Come Dancing's new professional dancer Julian Caillon has admitted he once faked a row on television to create more drama for producers. The Australian-born star, who joins the BBC series this autumn, revealed he acted up for the cameras to boost ratings while appearing on the Australian version of the show, Dancing With The Stars.
Caillon, 29, was paired with a female celebrity who had a hectic work schedule, sometimes making her late for rehearsals. He claims producers devised a plan for him to pretend to be angry about her lateness, and he went along with it. “Reality TV is not necessarily what you think,” he explained. “A massive aspect of reality TV is not really real.”
Speaking on the podcast Try with Alex, Caillon said he would now refuse such requests. “Now, I have clear boundaries and lines where I know, ‘This is what I'm willing to do. If they ask me to say this, I'm just gonna say no’.” He joined Dancing With The Stars Australia in 2020 and stayed for three seasons, with his partners including Gogglebox Australia star Angie Kent and model Erin McNaught.
Caillon is one of two new professionals joining the Strictly lineup alongside regulars such as Johannes Radebe, Katya Jones and Nikita Kuzmin. The other newcomer is American-born Alexis Warr, a former winner of US series So You Think You Can Dance. Warr shared her backstage ritual: “I wipe the bottom of my shoe before I go on and then rub my hands. I don’t know why. I just feel more grounded that way.”
