Len Goodman: 'I'll never leave Strictly'

Len Goodman has vowed he will never defect from Strictly Come Dancing, unlike Alesha Dixon - and will stick with the series until the BBC tire of him. The judge, who saw his fellow panellist poached by Simon Cowell to join ITV1's Britain's Got Talent, insists he cannot be lured away. Len - also a judge on US show Dancing With The Stars - said: "I'm going to keep pressing on with it until they get fed up with me." And the 67-year-old said he was perfectly happy with his pay packet for Strictly, despite reports that the remaining judges - including Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli - were demanding more cash. Len said: "I'm quite happy with what I get paid, but if they give me more I'm not going to say no to it." And he pledged his loyalty to the broadcaster for giving him his 'life-changing' opportunity, saying he would not defect 'in a million, trillion years'. "The BBC were wonderful - they didn't know who I was really, I'm just a dance teacher", he said. "They gave me an opportunity to do Strictly Come Dancing which was a life-changing event really, and I think that they deserve my loyalty, and my loyalty is what they will get. "I have no intention of stopping or slowing down. I'm in a position where I could do that, but once I stop I know what would happen, I'd be sitting indoors on a Saturday night watching Strictly Come Dancing and I'd be thinking 'that's a bloody stupid thing to say' and thinking 'I wish I'd kept going,'" he said. Len has teamed up with GlaxoSmithKline and NHS London to inspire over 55s with long-term health conditions to lead a more active lifestyle.

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.