Exclusive: Kevin Clifton reveals why he left Strictly Come Dancing

He’s the king of the Strictly dance floor, appearing in an impressive 5 finals, and taking home the glitterball trophy with his now real-life girlfriend Stacey Dooley. However, last week Kevin Clifton shocked the showbiz world by announcing that he was quitting the popular series.

He joins us live for his first television interview since revealing the news, to explain why he’s decided to waltz his way out of the show.

Professional dancer Kevin Clifton recently announced that he would be leaving Strictly Come Dancing and will not be taking part in this year’s series. He exclusively joined hosts Eamonn Holmes OBE and Rochelle Humes on today’s This Morning to discuss what’s next on his dancing agenda.

On his decision to leave Strictly, Kevin revealed: “I’m sort of always thinking, ‘When would be the right time to leave?’ and sort of pave the way for younger dancers coming through and I’ve done seven years on the show and felt that I’d achieved everything that I wanted to achieve.”

And on his reason for quitting the show, Kevin announced: “Something came along that has been my inspiration since I was about 10 years old. Basically, when I was 10 I watched the film ‘Strictly Ballroom’ and I became obsessed with it and I said at the time as a 10-year-old, ‘One day they’re going to put that on stage and I want to play Scott Hastings, the title character.’

“I just couldn’t turn it down,” said Kevin, revealing that he will be joining the ‘Strictly Ballroom’ stage show in the lead role this September. He also spoke about how he was approached for the theatre production a few years ago, but it didn’t work out.

Speaking fondly of Strictly, Kevin continued: “I’ve still got so much love for Strictly. It didn’t come to a point where I said, ‘I want to walk away now.’ I love it and I love everyone that works on the show.”

Ongoing back to Strictly for specials he said: “Who knows! I’m really looking forward to watching Strictly as a fan.”

And on dancing as he gets older, Kevin replied: “Some of my habits have changed. I’m more interested in my diet and I don’t drink anymore…. I still feel in good nick!”

Commenting on the rumours that it was actually his girlfriend, Stacey Dooley who encouraged him to leave Strictly, Kevin admitted: “It’s always the woman’s fault, like I’m incapable of making a decision. I did talk about it with her and she always said to me, ‘This has to be your decision. You can’t have anyone tell you what to do here. This is a big decision…’”

Eamonn then asked whether Stacey is still dancing. To which Kevin replied: “Not professionally, but she never stops dancing actually! Usually, I’ll text her and say, ‘What are you doing?’ And she’ll send me a video of her dancing in the kitchen.”

Kevin also revealed that he and Stacey had plans to go to Rome for a couple of days for her birthday. He said: “In the end, I said, ‘I don’t think this is a risk worth taking.’ We’ve booked a trip to Portugal for a couple of days instead.”