THEY were once Strictly Come Dancing’s most popular – and plain-talking – professional dancers.
And now Brendan Cole and James Jordan have lifted the lid on their exits from the show, with the pair confirming for the first time that they were sacked for refusing to toe the line.
Brendan Cole and Jattvibeetra Sarker on Strictly Come Dancing Credit: Handout
Brendan with James Jordan and Wynne Evans on the new Manopause podcast Credit: Manopause Podcast
Speaking candidly about his departure in 2018 after 14 years as a pro, Brendan, 50, confessed he was overheard branding head judge Shirley Ballas, 65, the C-word.
In Manopause — his new podcast with James, which comes out on Thursday — Brendan says: “I said that Shirley Ballas was a c**t three times.
“Strictly wanted my assurances that I wasn’t going to make a remark like that again.
“I wasn’t on air, it wasn’t recorded, it was about somebody.
“It wasn’t to their face, but I couldn’t turn around to them and say, ‘OK, I’ll give you my assurances that that won’t happen’.
“For me, it was about staying true to myself.
“I don’t condone the C-word. And at the time, I apologised for using it but I wasn’t going to backtrack on it and say, ‘Well, it wasn’t true’, because I thought it was true.
“Listen, I love Shirley. I think she’s a great judge. At the time, I didn’t think she was particularly nice to us and I vocalised that.
“Some would argue it cost me the gig. I would argue that I look at the positives and go, ‘I had the best three or four years of my working career post-Strictly, thanks to Strictly’.”
Of knowing he was on his way out, Brendan adds: “There was somebody above the exec producer who really loved me. And she said to me, ‘As long as I’m here, Brendan, you’ll always have a place on the show’. “And then the year before I left, she came up to me and said, ‘Brendan, I’m leaving to Channel 4’. I knew my days were over.”
Brendan — who won the first ever series of the show with Natasha Kaplinsky, 53 — also admits he was “hot-headed” on the show and probably lost work as a result.
He says: “Back in series one, I got a bit hot-headed with one of the producers because she was pushing my celeb to get out on the floor.
“In the end, I just went, ‘Enough’, and slammed the door in her face.
“That was probably one of the biggest mistakes I made because she is now the booker for one of the biggest programmes on television, Celebrity Traitors.
“I could pretty much guarantee I’ll never be on that show.”
James also says his outspoken nature was key to his exit.
James and his fellow pro dancer wife Ola Jordan announced their split earlier this month Credit: Rex
In his new podcast Manopause, Brendan says: ‘I said that Shirley Ballas was a c**t three times’ Credit: BBC
In his seven years on the show, James, 48, made the final with Denise van Outen, 52, in 2012, and came third with Pamela Stephenson, 76, two years before.
The ballroom pro, who left Strictly in 2013, says: “We used to do beautiful, authentic ballroom and Latin dancing — which is essentially what made Strictly what it is today.
“And then all of a sudden, I’m doing group dances to YMCA.
“The producer came up to me and said, ‘What do you think of the group dance? I think it’s really good’. “I said, ‘I think it’s st and it’s an insult to me and my profession’.
“Don’t ask for my opinion unless you want it.
“I was always very outspoken when I was on Strictly. I was always sticking up for the professional dancers.
“I eventually got asked to leave the show because I was maybe too outspoken and I was pointing things out that they didn’t want to be pointed out. But I want the best for the show.
“We speak very candidly about Strictly, but we loved being a part of it. It gave us a platform.
“We wouldn’t be here now doing this if it wasn’t for Strictly. But there were certain things that happened to us that were maybe not fair.”
In the debut episode of Manopause — which sees Brendan and James delve into topics including health and wellbeing — the pair also joke about Brendan’s alleged fling with newsreader Natasha in 2004.
Brendan split with his then-fiancee, fellow Strictly pro Camilla Dallerup, 52, during the run, but insists: “I didn’t have an affair. Camilla chose to leave. Once you do something, after that, it’s not an affair.”
He continues: “There was definitely jealousy. There were a lot of things going on back in series one.
Brendan confessed he was overheard branding head judge Shirley Ballas the C-word Credit: PA
Cole with his celebrity partner Charlotte Hawkins
“I am a jealous person. I probably couldn’t have somebody I was caring for do the show.
“I think it’d rip me apart, because I would always wonder if there were feelings involved because I’ve seen it time and time again. I’ve been involved in it on the show, where feelings become involved.
“Nothing’s happening necessarily, but once those feelings are there, you can’t deny them.
“You can’t switch them off, hence the ‘Strictly curse’.”
The pair also invite Wynne Evans on Manopause to discuss his sacking from the Strictly tour last year.
The opera singer was given his marching orders by BBC bosses — who also removed him from his Radio Wales show — after he was accused of using inappropriate language, which he denied.
Like Brendan and James, Wynne, 54, is keen to set the record straight on his exit — and claims the BBC banned him from attending his own birthday party.
Wynne, who was paired with Katya Jones, 37, during the 2024 series, says: “The BBC rang me and said that I was leaving the tour and I was also leaving my radio show.
“I’d broken my ankle and they just left me.
“It was my birthday and they’d organised a meal in a restaurant.
“And as I was going down to the lift to go to the meal, the producer of Strictly sent a message to say, ‘It’s been decided that Wynne will not be coming to his birthday party tonight’.
“It came from the Strictly producer, but it went to Katya and Jamie Borthwick and then they posted it in the group.
“And so I was just left there on my birthday in the hotel room while everybody else went to my birthday party. It put me in a really bad place.
“They were trying to get me in the next day for a tribunal, and I was saying, ‘I’m in bits. I’m not fit enough to come to a tribunal’. It was to examine my behaviour to see if I brought the BBC into disrepute.”
Wynne, who says his departure from the tour was “horrific,” spiralled into depression and started having ketamine therapy, where low doses of the drug are administered in a bid to improve mental health.
He says: “I don’t want to belittle anybody who’s going through chemotherapy but it was like chemotherapy for the mind because I would come out of the sessions and I’d be sick for about two or three days.
“I feel a little bit better, then I would go back. It was this cycle.”
Wynne admits that tried to take his own life but was saved by quick-thinking friends, who called his girlfriend to come to his aid.
“I was in hospital for about four days,” he says. “I thought, ‘Right, get your s**t together’.”
Of the lack of support from his co-stars, Wynne says: “I did reach out to them and I asked them to help me, but it’s fine.
“They’ve got to look after their own careers.
“I’m just trying to look forward now.”
James, whose marriage to Ola Jordan, 43 — a former fellow Strictly pro — ended earlier this year after 22 years, goes on to speak candidly about his own mental health.
He explains: “I’m going through a midlife crisis.
“The last few years for me have been really tough, and I’m not afraid to admit it.
“I’m struggling with life at the moment. This is why we started Manopause. It’s for the middle-aged man that’s struggling a little bit.”
Brendan continues: “I think at this age of our life, we are feeling the pressure.
“I have no idea if, in five years’ time, I’m going to be able to pay my school fees, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to afford the place that I’m living in.”
But James says he always tries to find the funny side of things, even in hard times.
He says: “People come up to me and they say, ‘I know you from somewhere . . .’. I always reply, ‘Do you watch gay porn?’ I’m offended they don’t know who I am.”
Manopause with James and Brendan will be available on YouTube and all major audio channels from Thursday.
