The professional dancer opened up about his relationship with dance following their elimination from the BBC competition
Julian Callion on Strictly spin-off It Takes Two(Image: BBC )
Strictly Come Dancing star Julian Callion has said that he ‘didn’t think we’d make it this far’ as he paid an emotional tribute to Balvinder Sopal.
The Australian professional dancer was one of two new pros to join the BBC dancing competition for its 23rd series this year. Julian was joined by Alexis Warr, who is competing with YouTuber George Clarke in Saturday night’s (December 20) final.
Dancing since the age of ten, Julian specialises in Ballroom and Latin American dancing, having even represented Australia on the international stage. On top of this, Julian previously competed on three seasons of Australia’s Dancing With The Stars, making him a perfect fit for Strictly.
Paired with EastEnders actress Balivinder, Julian quickly became a fan favourite on Strictly through his hilarious sense of humour. The pair made Strictly history by surviving five separate dance-offs during their run to the semi-finals.
However, on Sunday’s (December 14) results show, Balvinder and Julian’s time on Strictly came to an end with their sixth and final dance-off. Their record-breaking appearance in the dance-off saw them going up against theatre star Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin.
After seeing Balvinder and Julian perform their Salsa and Amber and Nikita dance their Couple’s Choice for a second time, the judges Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood unanimously agreed to save Amber and Nikita.
Just hours after being eliminated, Balvinder and Julian sat down with Fleur East to talk about their Strictly journey on spin-off series It Takes Two on Monday (December 15). During the interview, Julian revealed that he was questioning his career as a dancer before meeting Balvinder.
Balvinder Sopal and Julian Callion on Strictly spin-off It Takes Two(Image: BBC )
“When we first met, we got stuck in a room together for five hours. Within that time everything I thought about Bal came true. I thought she’d be someone who’d always has my back, someone I’d have a good relationship with and someone I’d have laughs with along the way.
“That’s exactly what happened. I didn’t think we’d made it this far, it isn’t about Bal or anything, more about me going into my first season. I don’t think I knew I quite believed in myself to get us there,” he said.
Praising Balvinder for her support, Julian continued: “Credit to Bal, I have never believed in myself as a dancer as much as I do now. That’s thanks to Bal and the confidence she’s given me.
“Thanks to Strictly as well, the magic of Strictly. I wasn’t sure dancing is what I’m meant to do in this world, but now I know that I am and that’s thanks to this experience with this amazing woman.”
Later in the interview, Balvinder praised Julian, who she calls Jules, for helping her ‘confidence grow’ as the competition progressed. She explained: “It is down to the way we work together. Jules was ever so brilliant, encouraging me and putting me in places that meant I had to do it.
“We can all sit back and go ‘is there an alternative’, and he’d be like ‘no, you’re doing that one’. You have to step up and I’m so grateful that you made me step up. It was magic.”
When it comes to their elimination, both Balvinder and Julian were in agreement that they accepted their fate when they learned it was Amber and Nikita they’d be up against to try and make it to the final.
“I wasn’t nervous, but I will say Amber is a wonderful contestant and a wonderful woman. She is of a different caliber. Going up against Amber, it was game over for me. We’re not at that level, I certainly wasn’t. I came into the competition as a novice…
“I didn’t know anything really… We gave it our best. We gave as good as we got, we gave better than,” Balvinder noted.
Julian stated: “I think we did what we always do, no matter who we were up against in the dance-off we always said ‘let’s focus on us, let’s do what we do and let’s try to top our performance from before’.”
Asked if he and Balvinder will continue to dance together, Julian replied: “We actually spoke about it before. We love doing the Argentine Tango, we spoke about doing a double date with our partners. We’ll keep dancing.”
