Bill Bailey has changed "profoundly" since winning 'Strictly Come Dancing'.
Bill Bailey
The 56-year-old comedian and his dance partner, Oti Mabuse, lifted the Glitterball Trophy last year and he admitted pushing himself out of his comfort zone every week has made him a stronger person.
He told The Sun newspaper: “Outwardly, my life goes on. It’s the same. I am still doing comedy.
“But there is something, I think, profoundly that has shifted a little bit as a result of it.
“That’s partly because it’s sort of going out of your comfort zone and doing well.
“But also the experience of it. It toughens you up a bit. I felt incredibly exposed because I was not in my comfort zone at all. You’re dancing live in front of millions and millions of people and every week they would be like, ‘Oh, we are going to get 12million this week’. And you think, ‘Oh crikey.’ ”
The 'Black Books' star is proud his success has inspired more older people to take up dancing.
He said: “I did hear a lot of dance schools saying there was a bigger uptake in older men and women joining who thought, ‘If Bill can do it then why can’t we?’.
“I mean, if not now, when? There’s no, ‘Let’s put this off’ any more. It’s like carpe diem. In fact, carpe the hell out of diem.”
And Bill also believes his triumph will make older celebrities who were worried about being viewed as a joke contestant be less reluctant to sign up.
He added: “I think a lot of people now are now considering it who wouldn’t have considered it before because of me. Yes, it is ‘The Bill Effect’.
“I know, from my own experience of talking to people, a lot of people my age and my vintage would sort of be a little wary about doing it because they think, ‘Oh, will I just be the joke one’, or, ‘Will I just fall over and make a complete tit of myself? Is that going to happen?’”
“I said, ‘Well no, if you train properly, if you work hard and put the hours in, then who knows what you can do’.”
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