Brendan Cole has dismissed claims that Dianne Buswell performed a miracle by helping Strictly Come Dancing’s first blind contestant to win the show and says it’s just testament that she’s good at her job.
The Austalian pro and comedian were named this year’s winners during last weekend’s grand final having beat off stiff competition from Sarah Hadland, JB Gill and Tasha Ghouri.
Cole - who served as a professional dancer on the hit BBC dance competition from from 2004 until 2018 - agrees their win was an impressive feat, but argues each of the finalists had their own challenges to overcome.
Speaking to The Standard on behalf of Sky Vegas, he explained: “Dianne [Buswell] didn't work miracles – she did the job that she was asked to do and any of the pros would have done the same thing. You saw it within the relationships from all of the pros and the celebs that were in the semi-final and final – all the relationships were really tight. They all absolutely adored each other.
“You spend a lot of time with your partner – hours and hours, month after month – and you become really close. You gain this bond – and all of the couples certainly appeared to have bonded.
“If Chris [McCausland] had been partnered with say Lauren [Oakley] or Jowita [Przystał], they would have done an amazing job with him as well. All the pros are very capable and they're great dancers and choreographers. Dianne did a great job, she got a guy that the nation fell in love with, and she was a great partner for him – they all did a really good job.
The New Zealand-native, 48, went on to highlight hurdles some of the others faced, saying: “Aljaž [Škorjanec] had the best dancer on the show. He had to work his socks off to get her to be amazing – that's the difference. Whereas Dianne had the challenge of trying to teach without the visual side of teaching, Aljaž had the job of teaching somebody who was almost as good as he was, so he really had to dig deep to get the best out of her, to really make her excel with what she did.
“Lauren [Oakley] had come in halfway through and give JB [Gill] change work that Amy [Dowden] would have done, because it would have been very different to what she wanted to do. Everybody had their own struggle within the series.”
Cole also weighed-in to the series-long debate about whether a shake-up where the judges were concerned was needed over concerns about their scoring.
He said: “Perhaps the judges shouldn't score in the final – it seems a bit pointless. The show says they are just there for guidance, but what guidance were they giving, by giving JB [Gill] a 10, and Tasha [Ghouri] a 9? It doesn't make sense.
“How can Chris [McCausland] have the same marks as the other three when the dancing is not even close? I am not taking anything away from Chris – he won the show fair and square, and it's lovely.
“He was a deserved winner, because at the point of the final, who cares if somebody does a better Cha Cha or a worse Waltz? It doesn't matter and it's about the whole journey – it's about summing up the entire series and voting for your favourite.”
