By ANN FOTHERINGHAM

ANTON du Beke in clingfilm instead of pants? Boxes of Dunkin’ Donuts for rhinestone-crazy designers? This interview with Erin Boag, dancer and former Strictly legend, has taken an odd turn.

“The kinds of things people want to know about Anton – it’s just weird,” she says, cheerfully. “What kind of underwear does he wear? Is it a G-string? Personally, I think it’s clingfilm.”

Erin and Anton du Beke, also famous for his long-running appearance on Strictly (15 years and still going strong) have been dancing together for 20 years.

“I know, who’d have thought?” gasps Erin. “I still remember the first time we met. I was in the dance studio and he swept in with another woman, the person he was dancing with at the time. He likes to make a grand entrance.

“We were introduced – Erin this is Anton, Anton this is Erin – and he spun me round, gave me a bit of a dip and said, ‘where are you from, love?’”

She laughs: “I said New Zealand, and he said, ‘oh, that’s unfortunate’ and off he pranced into another room, camp as a goose.

“I remember turning to the woman who’d introduced us and asking, incredulously – is he for real? She just looked at me and said – yep, that’s Anton. And a year later, there we were, dancing together and twenty years on, here we still are.”

Erin and Anton are currently preparing for their glamorous tour, Broadway to Hollywood, which will bring a little bit of stage and screen glamour to Glasgow royal Concert Hall on March 4.

“I love Glasgow, but I always come in the winter and it’s so cold,” says Erin. “The Royal Concert Hall is one of our favourite places to perform, it’s just wonderful. The people are so welcoming although sometimes, I don’t understand the accent. I need a translator.”

As well as performing on the tour, Erin is responsible for the styling and costumes for all the cast.

“I’ve always loved to do that kind of thing – I like to know what I’m wearing, I like to feel good on stage,” she says. “It’s the designers who deserve all the credit though. I went to see them yesterday, at Dance Sport International, and we had a great time sorting through the costumes, putting it all together.”

She grins: “I took them two huge boxes of Dunkin’ Donuts too – I mean, they deserve it, don’t they? They spend hours, day in, day out, sticking rhinestones on…”

“I love the crowds on the tour – nothing beats being able to walk out on stage and perform in front of such big live audiences, it’s fantastic.

“What else is better on a cold March day than sitting in a warm theatre watching a glamorous show? Apart from perhaps performing in it?”

Erin moved to Australia at the age of 18 to pursue her dancing dreams and she arrived in the UK in 1996. Erin competed in 10 series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnering the likes of Julian Clary, Colin Jackson, Austin Healey and Rory Bremner along the way and finally hanging up her sparkly shoes after the 2012 season.

“It wasn’t hard to leave Strictly because I wanted to start a family, but I dearly missed it,” she recalls. “I especially missed that relationship you have with your partner. But it is five months of your life each year that you have to give your heart and soul to, and something had to give.”

Erin and her husband Peter O’Dowd now have a son, Ewan, who is three years old and Erin is back on the Strictly scene, stepping in to Choreography Corner on the spin-off BBC TWO show, It Takes Two.

“It’s so lovely to be back, giving a bit of an opinion,” she beams. “This year’s crop of celebrities are really good but what’s been shown is that if you want them to stay in, you have to vote.

“Aston going out was a shocker, and now both Debbie and Alexandra have been in the dance off – the good dancers need your votes if you want them to stay in.”

Glasgow’s great hope for lifting the glitterball trophy, actor Joe McFadden, is now the frontrunner to win after avoiding another dance off on Saturday – both Debbie McGee and Alexandra Burke have had to endure the dance off which have seen their chances stumble.

City comedian Susan Calman left the competition a couple of weeks ago, but Erin says she should be proud of how far she reached.

“Susan was brilliant – not the best technical dancer, but a brilliant example of someone who discovered just how much fun dancing can be,” smiles Erin. “There are five couples left, all are very good – who will get to the final? Who will win? There have been a few shake-ups in recent weeks, so who knows?”

Anton and Erin: Broadway to Hollywood is at GRCH on March 4, 2018.