All right.

Welcome to the 400 episodes.

Oh, wow.

Rowdy, rowdy bunch.

Oh, shit.

Right.

So, yeah, I'm really excited.

I've been like a kid in a candy shop for the last few weeks Thinking about this, um, to off the most successful people in their fields to off probably the biggest celebrity names in the U.

K.

In their fields.

Maybe even in all fields have agreed to come and be your special guests at the 400 podcast episode.

And I think it's a real privilege that we all get to spend time with these people.

I feel really privileged that they've become really good friends of mine since, Well, we go back a bit further because we've got property and business relationship when Kevin got into property.

But really, it's my work with them on my podcast.

That kind of kicked everything off.

Jake would has his very successful podcast Pound for Pound.

Kev's podcast is launching before the strictly show, The Kevin Clifton Show.

We went down to Southampton, where he was doing one of his shows and did three episodes with him, So this really is all in about podcasts, so I want you to be involved as much as we're involved, which means that I'm certainly for I would say at least 1/3 off each of the interviews.

I'm going to open the floor to questions, so I'm gonna give you a little bit of time to prepare what your one question might be now, with theming tonight on secrets to your success cause actually kept been interviewed twice in my pockets before.

He's one of only maybe four or five guests I've interviewed twice.

Kev's got great story.

He start many great things on.

He's very honest and open about some of the challenges.

He's out on his journey, but I wanna make sure the interview with him tonight.

It's a little bit different from what you've had on the podcast before.

And whilst we did talk a bit about Kevin success, we talk more about his journey.

We didn't really get into what makes him a great dancer.

You know what made him win strictly after five or six or seven goes on?

What does he think makes an amazing dancer et cetera on.

I'd like to theme it like that just so that the 400 and the 401st on the 402nd episodes that come out, they have a little bit of a unique flavor to them.

We'll have another special guest now.

I I invited us to Marigold, JLS and Janni, who's got huge YouTube channel.

Is that the rap guys massive in cars?

They both said yes, but they couldn't do this one, Aston said, brought me in for the 5/100.

So I'm doing 500 episodes every day to get that one in quick.

But someone who's coming today.

Yeah.

Hayes, his sister, is wild, the famous, and he is in her band and he writes her songs.

Andi, I've got to know him.

Recently, he is the most lovely man you'll ever meet.

He's just started podcast.

I've been advising him on that, So he's coming up with Jake literally.

Jake's been filming all day, and he's driven straight up.

So Kevin is a really busy guy.

He gets one day between his current tour before he's on to strictly it's that's like a full football season one day off full football season.

So Jake been filming all day, gets in the car comes up here, so I know you're excited, consensual, excited.

But these guys have really delivered for us on, you know, they're not getting paid.

They're just doing it because they love podcasts and they want to help her community.

So I'm really grateful.

Thank you.

Really appreciate it, mate.

Let's get you out of that.

Wasn't actually your intro, but just come on, come up anyway.

That's all right.

Now, as you can see, I've got no questions.

I wanted to be really conversational, but kept The first thing I would like to know is what you've been dancing since you were four.

Correct?

Yes.

And you are now 30 36 even dancing 32 years.

You must have seen some amazing dancers on many dancers who were good but didn't quite make it on many average dancer.

What makes the best?

Um, I think the best dancers are the ones that they've got a sort of a good grasp of technique like they've worked and worked and worked.

But like that, that will bring you to being a good dancer.

But the best ones are the ones that can connect with people on an emotional level.

So to me it's the ones that can make you feel something, I suppose, like like any, Like like with acting or singing.

I suppose even if you imagine like you fit your favorite singer is not necessarily the greatest technical singer in the world.

But there's something about the music.

There's something there's something about a certain song or something that makes you feel something.

Yeah, no, no.

But like, I really feel something like when he's with his songs over or when is performing.

And so for me the best the best dancers are the ones that have that ability.

Thio.

Yeah, to make you feel that that can connect emotionally with you and so on.

Strictly Is it different?

What makes a winner of strictly different to what makes a great dancer?

Uh, no.

The answer is yes.

But yes, you took it in terms of the celebrities doing it or or is this prose tell us we've got all night may Well, in terms of the celebrities like a as you know, it depends on who the audience get behind really On DDE.

That could be many different things.

I think people watch strictly and I think a lot of the time they like to see someone who wasn't necessarily brilliant at the start and they have to work really hard and they see a lot of improvement on also, like I said, with just being a dancer, that they want to connect emotionally, I think people get bored of watching someone who's just kind of kind of perfect in terms of technique and lines and things.

They don't want to give in a display of something.

They they want to get excited.

Bye.

So yeah, and with that with the pros, like if I if I was to do, I haven't done the bin in the dance competition world for quite a while.

I stopped doing that in 2007.

12 years now I've been out of the competition scene.

If I was to go and do competitions nowadays, I probably wouldn't get anywhere as I used to be quite successful in it.

But I probably wouldn't get anywhere because it's judged in a very sort of technical, technical way.

You have to satisfy this and take that box and and whatever where is on?

If some of those if some of the top competitors in dancing competitions.

If they were to cross over to strictly come dancing, I think a lot of them would struggle on strictly because I don't think they would understand that.

Like I said, the audience that the audience are looking to get excited, the audience looking toe, feel something with what they're watching.

They don't want a technical display of a sort of expert movement.

Yeah, so it's sort of two different things like I've been trying to win strictly for years.

Only only just finally happens.

Very.

Yeah, it's all about the celebrities.

It's nothing about that.

Yeah, I've been saying nothing about yeah, for six years.

I've been saying, You know, it's all about the entertainment, about the audience and it's all about the show.

Onda winning really doesn't mean anything.

But like that moment when they called out her name, some final was a pretty good moment.

Yeah, I think you know, I think that was probably the combination of, you know, the pro instill a sense of what Stacy Dooley on the last Siri's Theo.

I think people took her because she was just very normal people.

It's about relating to people isn't it all the time in anything.

It's the same with like, I don't know if you're interviewing someone our own things about relating to someone.

I think people related to stated she was a normal girl.

People see themselves in her going on that journey of trying to work as hard as possible.

A TTE, this new skill and just doing their best on dhe.

She did work card.

She and she really improved.

I think she should have displayed that like the first A couple of weeks we were doing eight hours a day training on DDE.

We're getting fours and fives out of 10 from the judges on dhe, sort of not doing as well as we'd like.

Andi, she just went.

I don't want to get kicked out early Like I really enjoying this.

I want I want to do better than this.

I think we need to put more hours in and we ended up doing 14 hours a day of training andare improvement just just went through the roof.

He just kept kept improving and improving.

And I think people like that in someone and then, you know, with May it was probably a bit of a sympathy vote that went with it because because I've been runner up four times, eso people were probably thinking, Yeah, I really like She's really hard work and she's doing a good job and she's dancing with him.

Just give him it, Give it, give him the wind.

Just wants things, these pages.

Jews.

Yeah.

So I think there's a lot of factors go into it when it comes to strictly specifically, popularity, liking to see someone work hard, like to see them improve?

No, necessarily perfect relatable.

Make you feel something?

Yeah.

I mean, there were two girls in the final, one of them from the Pussycat Dolls and one of them from steps, both lovely and both brilliant dancers.

But they were brilliant from week one because they were professional dancers.

Before they're pro partners.

We're professional dancers.

Could you argue that it was harder for them because the expectation was higher?

I think it was easier for them to get to the final, but when it came where the judges have nothing to do with it and it's just down to public vote in the final, I think they had a big task on their hand to convince the public to vote for them to win.

I think everyone loved them and enjoyed what they were doing.

Nothing.

And no one had anyone against them, but to inspire someone to get behind them.

And it's a funny thing in this country, I think way.

Love an underdog.

Someone's really good from the beginning way immediately.

Take against them way.

Want someone who's not great, but they're working really hard like we champion hard work here.

Yeah, yes, I think, Yeah, I think that had a lot to do with it on on Strictly.

Yeah, So in your shows burn the floor rock of ages.

Yet there you have it may be a bit more creative license.

Yeah.

Do you work on the emotional connection parts?

It's something you're really thinking about.

How can I move these people and make them feel something?

Yeah, more than anything.

Yeah, that's That's the main, the main ingredient for me.

It's linking emotion, everything, because then then people will go along.

Like like I said, People's favorite song usually is a song that relates somehow to a certain feeling or memory.

Andi, think, think Tony Robbins does a lot of that sort of work, like he gets you to link emotion to a certain thought or desire or something that you want to achieve.

So it's not just like I'd like to achieve this.

It's like, What would it mean?

Thio.

What would happen to you if you don't achieve this or, you know, and how would it change your life?

If you do achieve this and, like, put yourself in a position?

How would it feel?

Like that's what Tony Robbins is doing when he talks about stuff?

So it's It's all about linking emotions of stuff.

So when I'm going out as a performer in anything, whether I'm acting, singing, dancing, my main aim is to make people feel something, and it's it's less important, actually, say, like when I'm singing in rock of ages.

It's less important to me like whether I hit that note perfectly or whether my voice is a bit rough that night or whatever.

As long as the audience feel something is like they get excited, they get emotionally no, they get, you know, get goose bumps or like whatever the thing is or they're laughing zits comedy.

As long as they feel something, and then there hopefully gonna enjoy it will be inspired in some way or yeah, get excited What Everything is.

So it's all about that emotion for me.

So I'm a great student of really successful people, and I don't if you've watched this yet, Kevin know many of my community have.

But on the second of January, I watched a documentary on Alexander McQueen.

McQueen, right?

Really moved May one of the best designers that ever lived, E I think it was the head of giving.

Was she?

At 19 years old?

The head design was just like, unheard of what he achieved.

And throughout his life, you've got a lot of criticism for his work because it was quite dark, not skulls and of death, a lot of darkness in his design.

And he said pretty much exactly the same thing.

He said, You come to my show.

I don't care if you love it.

I don't care if you hate it.

I just want you to feel something.

Yeah, yeah, and I think he really needed that.

And I think humans really need that room and you watch an amazing Netflix documentary or you're moved or inspired by someone or a film or a hero is I think it's gone.

It's because they make you feel something.

They make you feel alive.

They make cause alive.