Anton du Beke

Anton du Beke
du Beke and Erin Boag at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham, January 2008
Born	Anthony Paul Beke (1966-07-20) 20 July 1966 (age 50) Sevenoaks, Kent, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Professional ballroom dancer television presenter
Television	Strictly Come Dancing (2004—) Hole in the Wall (2009)

Anthony Paul Beke (born 20 July 1966), known professionally as Anton du Beke, is a British ballroom dancer and television presenter, best known as a professional dancer on the BBC One celebrity dancing show Strictly Come Dancing since the show began in 2004. In 2009, he presented the UK version of Hole in the Wall, for the BBC, replacing Dale Winton after being a team captain in 2008.

His professional dance partner since 1997 has been Erin Boag.

Du Beke was born in Sevenoaks, Kent to a Hungarian father, Antal Xavier Beke (1939-2001), and a Spanish mother, Ascensión Lema. He has two younger siblings. He attended Wildernesse School in Sevenoaks.

Du Beke began dancing at 10, when he discovered his local dance school, the Holton School of Dancing in Sevenoaks, and took his first dancing exam in June 1978. The school was run by Beryl Holton together with her mother Velda and later with her husband Stephen Turner. He started competitive dancing a few years later. He had three partners during these formative years before the Holton School of Dancing closed in 1987 when Beryl and Stephen Turner moved with his banking career to Dorset. Du Beke left school at 16 to follow an amateur dancing career. At 17 he decided to specialise in ballroom. Whilst 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 where he was known as Tony Beke.

Du Beke lives in Buckinghamshire with girlfriend Hannah Summers. In November 2016 the couple announced they were expecting twins, due in Spring 2017. On 30th March 2017, his son and daughter were born, announced with an Instagram post.

He has appeared in all fourteen series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. In more recent years, a running joke has been that Du Beke is always partnered with the poorer dancers, who often score very low marks. In the first series, he danced with singer Lesley Garrett and finished in third place. For the second series, he partnered presenter Esther Rantzen; they were eliminated in the third week. He danced with actress Patsy Palmer for the third series and finished in fifth place. In the fourth series, he danced with actress and impressionist Jan Ravens but was eliminated in week 5 of the competition. His partner for the fifth series was TV presenter Kate Garraway; the couple was voted out in week 7. His partner for the sixth series was actress Gillian Taylforth; the couple was voted out in week 2. In series seven, he was partnered with Laila Rouass. Together, they made it to week 12.