Anthony Paul Beke (born 20 July 1966), known professionally as Anton Du Beke (/duː ˈbɛk/), is a British ballroom and Latin dancer, author and television presenter, best known for being a professional dancer and a judge on the BBC One celebrity dancing show Strictly Come Dancing.

In 2009 he presented the United Kingdom version of Hole in the Wall for the BBC, replacing Dale Winton, after being a team captain in 2008.

While he danced during the evenings and at weekends, he had a day job as a salesman in "The Bed Post" in Petts Wood, South London.

[14] They joined the show assuming that it would only last for one series, and that they would return to the circuit after its run and continue to pursue their goal of winning the world championships and were completely unprepared for Strictly’s immediate massive popularity with the viewing public.

[15] Although they continued to compete for the first two series of the show, they retired from the competitive arena after realizing that they had to choose between dancing professionally and committing fully to training their celebrity partners.

They finished joint runners-up alongside Karim Zeroual and Amy Dowden, but lost out to Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse.

He danced once again with Anne Widdecombe in the 2012 Children in Need special but lost out to Russell Grant and Flavia Cacace.

Du Beke has also reprised his partnerships with Lesley Garret and Ann Widdecombe for the 2004 and 2018 Christmas specials, respectively.

He has also danced with Ronni Ancona, Su Pollard, Katy Brand and Denise Lewis in the respective 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2016 Christmas specials.

In 2015 Du Beke served as a judge on The People's Strictly, a one off version of the show where non-celebrities compete for the charity Comic Relief.

In 2020, he reprised his role as a judge for weeks four and five to fill in for Motsi Mabuse, who needed to quarantine after travelling to Germany.

On 24 June 2021, it was announced that Du Beke would become a permanent judge on Strictly Come Dancing from series nineteen, starting in September 2021, replacing Bruno Tonioli.

[16] In 2009, Du Beke said that his dance partner Laila Rouass "looked like a paki" after she had arrived at rehearsal with a spray tan.

Du Beke apologized publicly,[17][18] and reiterated his remarks on It Takes Two, Strictly Come Dancing's companion show, stating that "I feel embarrassed.

"[19] Rouass accepted his apology,[19] and stated in a 2011 interview: "The story had been blown out of proportion ... Anton didn’t mean to be offensive.

[citation needed] In March 2007 Du Beke was a contestant on the BBC Two series The Underdog Show and was paired with homeless dog Ginger.

He served as a captain and from series 2 was the host on the UK version of Hole in the Wall, which premiered on 20 September 2008 on BBC One.

On 24 December 2009, he appeared in Victoria Wood's Midlife Christmas, in a sketch called "Beyond The Marigolds", where he spoofed his Strictly Come Dancing role by being paired with fictional soap star "Bo Beaumont" (played by Julie Walters).

[26][27] 5Score awarded by guest judge Alfonso Ribeiro Series 18 – with celebrity partner Jacqui Smith; placed 12th Du Beke has released a book called Anton's Dance Class which was serialised in the Mail on Sunday.

Du Beke has now released six novels in the series which have all been set around the Buckingham Hotel and characters Raymond and Nancy.