Brian Conley says he 'blames' brother over Strictly Come Dancing mistake

Watch: Brian Conley blames brother for 'distracting' him on Strictly

What did you miss?

Brian Conley has joked that his brother ruined Strictly Come Dancing for him.

The actor and comedian was a contestant on the BBC ballroom show in 2017, and was partnered with pro Amy Dowden in what was her first series. His brother Alan is the floor manager on the TV show and during an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Conley quipped that he threw him off in the first dance-off.

The star said it had been terrifying facing the dance-off – which he called “the best known laxative in showbiz” – and also laughed that he “got more points on my driving licence than I did in that show”.

What, how and why?

Conley was chatting to Good Morning Britain hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls when Reid asked whether his brother had distracted him when he was on the dancefloor. And the star jokingly admitted that he did “blame” his brother for the fact he didn’t do brilliantly.

“The first week I was in the dance-off and as you well know this is the first week,” he said to Reid, who was a Strictly contestant herself in 2013. “My partner, God bless her, Amy Dowden has never done one of these series before – it was her first one.

“And that very first moment where you are in the dance-off I’m standing there and I am waiting for the, ‘Dancing the Cha Cha Cha…’ and it doesn’t, it goes straight into it. Because when you are in the dance-off you don’t get that!

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“And I said to Al, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ and he goes, ‘I’m just so nervous, I’m just so nervous’.”

Conley ended up making it through the dance-off and lasted six weeks in the competition, but he said being at the bottom of the leaderboard after the first performance was “extremely nerve-wracking” for him.

“I just stood there thinking, this is the best known laxative in showbiz… Oh man it sorts out the men from the boys!” he laughed.

Reid suggested it was unfair to hold his sibling responsible, but Conley insisted: “Well I am going to blame anyone!”

What else did Brian Conley say about Strictly Come Dancing?

The Time After Time star said he thought he had done well in the competition, then changed his mind and confessed: “Well I don’t actually - I got more points on my driving licence than I did in that show!”

And he shared that it was Reid who had actually persuaded him to sign up in the first place. The pair had been sat together in the Strictly audience and the presenter asked Conley why he had never done the show.

He said to her: “You went, ‘Bri you are not getting any younger. Come on love, focus!’”

Conley ended up being the fourth celeb to be eliminated in Strictly that year, which was won by Joe McFadden and Katya Jones.