Justin-Lee Collins slams Bruce Forsyth

Their paths crossed on Strictly Come Dancing.

The Friday Night Project star hosted BBC Three spin-off Strictly Come Dancing: On Three in 2004.

“He’s horrible! I had to interview Bruce three times. He was not pleasant and I didn’t like his tone or demeanour,” Lee-Collins told Love It mag. 

“I was terrified before our first live interview, then during it, he told me my questions were ridiculous. The awkwardness continued and I was thinking, ‘Oh man, why are you being like this’. My mum used to tell me the more unpleasant a person is to you, the more you should kill them with kindness, so I kept being nicer and nicer to him.

“Even though he’d been horrible, at the end of the interview I said, ‘Thank you Bruce so much, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you all day’. He stood up and his parting shot was, ‘Well you’ve met me now’, and walked off. I was shattered. And the following week he was just as bad.”

Collins added: “I last saw him at an end of series dinner – the BBC recommissioned the show and everyone was coming back – except me. One of the producers said to me, ‘I’ve been having a chat with Bruce and he told me, ‘When Justin first started, I wasn’t sure about him. But I saw how hard he worked, he did alright. Isn’t that a nice thing to say, Justin?’.

“I actually wanted to tell him to f**k off, grab a doggie bag and go back home to Bristol.”

It’s not the first time Lee-Collins has expressed an unflattering opinion of Forsyth. Last month he described the veteran entertainer as “very rude” and called for him to retire from Strictly.

“I still think Bruce in his day was the best at what he did, but I think he should have given up three or four years ago,” Lee-Collins said.