Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips on that 'Queen of Mean' tag, the John Sergeant furore - and who she wants to win

... on that 'Queen of Mean' tag, the John Sergeant furore - and who she wants to win

Audio: Hannah Pool talks to Arlene Phillips

You're not really the "Queen of Mean" are you?

No, but I have very exacting standards, and I cannot abide people who don't commit and work.

Are the people you want in the final?

I would have loved to see Austin [Healey] in it. In my heart, I always thought he might win.

Should Tom [Chambers] and Camilla [Dallerup] have been voted off last Saturday?

I can't say. What we've seen time and time again this series is that they could have come back and been so brilliant. Something could have happened - the electricity, the charisma, the sensuality - and we could have seen something above and beyond what we expected.

Isn't there a sense that since John Sergeant left the show, it doesn't matter who wins - the viewers' favourite has left already?

To me it matters a lot who wins. You can't look back and imagine what might have happened.

Do you wish he hadn't left?

Of course. Secretly, he made me laugh, you couldn't help it.

Do you wish you'd been kinder to him?

No. I don't. To be fair, the week he left, we had said how much he'd improved. We were all generous in our marks, we saw the light, so I'm not quite sure what happened.

Did the show get less interesting after he left?

For me it didn't, it got unbelievably exciting. We've never had a show where anyone could win.

What do you think of the final three?

Lisa has come the furthest, and she is likable. Rachel, dance-wise, is where Alicia [Dixon] was, but she's not a bubbly, bouncy girl. What's odd about Tom is, one would think, because he's an actor, he would know how to portray a dance, but we can see him acting the role and that's been off-putting.

You have a reputation for having a soft spot for some of the male contestants.

No, the only male contestant I had a real soft spot for was Mark [Ramprakash]. Everything he couldn't express as a person came out on the dance floor, it was magical. Since then, Bruce [Forsyth] has set up this pretence and I just smile and play dumb.

As a viewer, you get the feeling that is a response a lot of the judges have to Bruce's jokes.

Yes, we all smile, absolutely. Bruce is funniest when he's off-the-cuff, when you least expect it. He would have you laughing like you can't believe. Before the show he does a warm-up with the audience - it's hysterically funny. He sings, he dances, he jokes and it's a magical 10 minutes. When he's hosting the show, he stiffens slightly, but the real Bruce is a magnificent entertainer.

How did you get into dance?

I grew up without any money, but the one thing that we did was sit up in the gods to watch the ballet. I wanted to dance for as long as I can remember. I wanted to be a classical dancer, but realised I was forever on the back row in my ballet classes; it was never going to happen. Then at 15, at the age when everybody was auditioning for ballet schools, my mother died and that put an end to my knowing I could ever do that.

Did Ridley Scott really give you a break when you babysat for him?

Yes, it's true. I saw Molly Molloy teaching modern American jazz in London and that was it. I had no money, no job, no place to stay, and I went to work as a babysitter for Ridley Scott, because Molly knew him. She was choreographing commercials for him. She went to Paris to do a job and Ridley had a commercial to choreograph and he asked me to do it. I took to it like a duck to water.

Do you feel pressure as an older woman in television?

I feel intense pressure. Is that pressure I put on myself, or is it that I feel somebody is always watching for every wrinkle? I don't know. I outwork my daughters, I outwork all those kids on Britannia High, and with an energy and vitality that doesn't seem to disappear, so it's hard to say, "Oh, I'm older, I've got to sit back," because I'm not feeling it. So of course I don't want to look it.

Is it true you had botox and fillers?

Yes, I did, once. I could not put myself through that pain month- in month-out. I do have this really good beauty therapist who does intense massages with a machine, to hold up my face for the day. But normally you won't see a stitch of makeup, this is who I really am.

You're quite warm. In fact, you're very different from how you are on screen.

I am, but my television persona is my work persona, it's not something that I just add on for TV. That's me when I'm working.

Contributor

Interview by Hannah Pool

The GuardianTramp

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