Kelly's the best ..but her pain was too much
STRICTLY EXCLUSIVE: BRENDAN ON KEL'S EXIT
By Lara Gould Tv Reporter
Strictly Come Dancing's Brendan Cole has revealed how his devastated dance partner Kelly Brook tried her hardest to continue on the show after her dad died... but her grief proved too much.
Brendan says: "Kelly was upset but her first reaction was to carry on as a tribute to her dad.
"But we went into training on the Tuesday, the day after he died, and I could see she was a different person.
She managed to keep her spirits up, but was much quieter than usual. "On the Wednesday she came into the studio and just seemed to want to submerge herself in the dancing... she was more focused than ever.
"We were practising our cha-cha and it was literally the best I'd ever seen her dance.
"It seemed that her dad's passing had given her a new focus and a drive to win. Kelly seemed to be thinking, 'I'm going to do this for my dad and make sure it's the best damn thing I've ever done'."
But after two days, Kelly made the difficult decision to pull out of the BBC1 show. "I just said to her, 'Don't worry and let me know if you need anything - I'm there for you'," says Brendan.
So sadly, Strictly's 9million viewers never got to see the couple's tribute to her dad Ken Parsons, who lived in Kelly's home town of Rochester in Kent. "She obviously made a decision to take some time to grieve," Brendan told the Sunday Mirror.
"She felt she wasn't able to go on, so it was a case of her saying to me, 'I'm so sorry but I can't do the show any more'."
Ken had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in the summer. When Kelly joined the line-up for Strictly in September, only Brendan knew how serious her her dad's illness was, and he respected her decision to keep it private.
"I knew pretty much from the start," Brendan said. "That's was why I was so defensive of her in front of the judges because I knew what was really going on behind the scenes.
"On a show like Strictly you have to know pretty much everything about your partner. You can't work that closely and intimately with someone if you don't know what's going on at home because you have to be able to appreciate the down days. If she was having a bad day, I understood why. Looking back that's another reason why I was so proud of her.
"Kelly could easily have gone down the route of saying, 'My dad's ill and I'm having a hard time'. But she was a trouper and she didn't mention it once. She just kept it to herself and concentrated on her dancing."
Kelly's sadness also forced Brendan to face up to his own loss last month when his cousin in New Zealand passed away after battling cancer.
"I knew what Kelly was going through because I lost a close family member during the series. Kelly knew about it. I had a couple of bad days too, but Kelly respected that," he says.
Brendan's loss also helped him provide a much-needed shoulder for Kelly to cry on in the hours after receiving news of her dad's death. The 32-year-old dancer says he has made it clear to Kelly, who is engaged to Hollywood star Billy Zane, he would support her whatever she chose to do. But Brendan does admit that leaving the competition at such a late stage was disappointing - especially as the couple were the bookies' favourites for the final. That's the disappointing aspect of it all I suppose, knowing how much we could have achieved," he says.
"The week before we'd gone out on a bit of a downer with the judges so it was a shame we didn't get the chance to go back and show them what we were really capable of."
Brendan, who won the first series with BBC newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky in 2004, added: "My disappointment I suppose, was more on Saturday night when I was watching everyone else go out on to the dance floor and thinking, 'We belong out there'. It was disappointing not to be on the floor that night with Kelly."
But for now, Brendan is still enjoying the show as a member of the audience - and he has his own verdicts on the remaining contenders (see above).
He says: "This series is one of the best yet, and the standard of the dancers has been great and so entertaining."
Cole's views on the final four contestants
EMERGING TALENT
Letitia and Darren
It's amazing how her confidence has grown. She's worked hard and it's certainly paid off. Good luck to her.
TIPPED FOR THE TOP
Gethin & Camilla
Underrated, understated and undermarked. I think Geth is technically the best dancer on the show.
ULTIMATE PERFORMER
Alesha & Matt
Total star quality - switches it on as soon as she dances. Footwork isn't the best, but the judges are smitten.
THE HOTTEST CHEMISTRY
Matt & Flavia
These two have wicked chemistry, which is crucial in a good dance partnership. Matt's looks will help him win votes.
Mirror
