Benedict Cumberbatch has answered whether or not he’d join the Strictly Come Dancing family.
The two-time Oscar nominee was speaking to Lorraine’s Tyler West today (November 21) in promotion of his new film The Thing with Feathers. In it, he plays a widower trying to raise two young sons while dealing with crippling grief.
Ex-Strictly star Tyler switched the conversation to the BBC ballroom though, eager to know if his megastar interviewee would ever don the sequins.
Benedict Cumberbatch says no to Strictly
Recounting a whisky-soaked sequence from The Thing with Feathers, Tyler said: “You’ve shown some moves and it is Strictly season at the moment. Your good friend Judge Rinder did it, I’ve done it.
“That’s where I met my now-fiancée,” he added. “Would you ever dive in?” It took literally a millisecond for Benedict to reply “No!”
This caused Tyler to let out a big laugh. “At least you’re honest with it,” he grinned.
“To be honest, I would love some private dance lessons but I would not go anywhere near that,” revealed the Doctor Strange actor.
How does the Marvel actor know Rob Rinder?
Benedict and Rob originally met each other while studying Drama and Politics/Modern History at Manchester University. The famous duo stayed close ever since and Benedict even officiated his friend’s wedding to ex-husband Seth Cummings back in 2013.
When Rob competed on Strictly in 2016, Benedict said on ITV’s This Morning that he was “so proud of him”.
“He’s a friend and I’ve seen a bit of Judge Rinder and I know Rob Rinder and to see someone I know doing that is phenomenal,” he commented.
Rob and dance partner Oksana Platero were eliminated from the competition during Week 11. They finished in fifth place.
Tyler West and Molly Rainford’s romance explained
As the man himself mentioned on Lorraine, Tyler and his fiancée Molly Rainford got together thanks to Strictly.
They were fellow ballroom competitors in the 2022 series, with Molly and pro Carlos Gu eliminating Tyler and Dianne Buswell in Blackpool’s dance-off.
When they toured with the show a few months later, they began dating. It was publicly announced in March 2023 that they were in a relationship.
Skip to this summer and Tyler popped the question on holiday. He told New! magazine: “She’s my best friend. She’s made me feel more love in these past two years than I’ve experienced in my entire life. I proposed in Mykonos, and I was so chill and calm – it was the easiest, best decision of my life.”
Apparently, Molly “couldn’t stop crying” when he got down on one knee. “I had no clue. But when he asked, it was always going to be ‘Yes’. I was very emotional,” she recounted.
Tyler added: “Every time we were out for lunch, Molly would burst into tears, and people would look over. I had to say, ‘It’s happy tears guys, don’t worry!'”
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