Yahoo News Bruno Tonioli shares heartbreaking admission about Strictly co-star Len Goodman despite rows
Strictly Come Dancing icon Bruno Tonioli has shared heartbreaking details of his friendship with the late Len Goodman despite admitting that they used to row.
Both appearing as judges from the very first episode of BBC hit Strictly, Bruno and Len soon struck up a friendship that lasted until Len's death last year on April 22, aged 78.
Opening up on his sense of loss, after Len passed away in April last year, Bruno told Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast: "It takes a long time to get over the grief, pain or whatever you want to call it, but there's a part of them, when you are really close, they are always with you."
Looking back at the relationship they had formed over a decade of working together, Bruno said that the pair saw the good and bad sides of each other down the years: "You get to know the good, the bad and the ugly, because, listen, nobody is perfect. I'm not perfect, he wasn't perfect, he was quite a difficult man. But, it allows you to look at it and laugh about it."
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Despite having a 'blunt' way of talking to each other, Bruno insisted that their relationship only ever benefitted as a result, as he said: "Len and I used to speak to each other pretty bluntly, and you need that. But, then you have that sense of solidity and support."
While they had a blunt way of communicating, he added that their similar upbringings was something that drew them closer together: "We were very very similar because of the working class backgrounds and being able to do the job and (go) 'okay, bye' and go home."
Looking back at Len's legendary role on the BBC show, Bruno added: "We'll always miss him, but these people are always part of you, some (people) will never die."
Having first met on the judging panel of Strictly Come Dancing in 2004 the pair would continue working together overseas when the US adaptation of the ITV show, Dancing with the Stars began airing a year later.
Strictly returns to BBC One at 7.05pm tonight (Saturday, November 23).
