Bruno Tonioli

Bruno Tonioli
Tonioli in 2009
Born	(1955-11-25) 25 November 1955 (age 68) Ferrara, Italy
Citizenship	Italy United Kingdom
Occupations	Television personality choreographer dancer
Years active	1980–present
Partner	Jason Schanne (2010–present)

Bruno Tonioli (Italian pronunciation: [ˈbruno tonˈ[ijɔli]]; born 25 November 1955) is a British-Italian television personality, choreographer and dancer. He has judged on the British television talent shows Strictly Come Dancing (2004–2019), DanceX (2007) and Britain's Got Talent (2023–present), and the American television talent shows Dancing with the Stars (2005–present) and Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann (2008).

In 1980, as part of the group Duke and the Aces, Tonioli performed in but did not win the United Kingdom's competition to select an entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.^[1]

Tonioli has worked in the music business as a choreographer for music videos, stage shows, and tours for artists such as Tina Turner, Sting, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Freddie Mercury, Sinitta, Boy George, Dead or Alive, Bananarama, and Duran Duran. He danced in the Elton John video for "I'm Still Standing" (1983).^[2]

Tonioli choreographed the band Arcadia's music video for their song "Election Day", as documented in a 1980s documentary entitled The Making of Election Day. He was Minnie Driver's choreographer in the film Ella Enchanted (2004).^[2]

In November 2016, Tonioli lent his name to an album released by Decca Records entitled An Italian Romance, a compilation of Italian songs by various artists selected by Tonioli.^[3]

In November 2018, Tonioli presented the BBC Radio 2 series Bruno Tonioli at the Opera.^[4]

In October 2022, Tonioli competed in the second series of The Masked Dancer as Pearly King, placing third behind Australian actor Adam Garcia (second place) and American actress and dancer Heather Morris (winner).^[5]

In January 2023, it was announced that Tonioli would be joining the judging panel for series 16 of the British talent show Britain's Got Talent, replacing David Walliams.^[6] Tonioli was the first to use the Golden Buzzer, doing so for Ugandan dance group Ghetto Kids. However, not knowing the rules of the show, he mistakenly pressed it during the performance instead of waiting until the end, as had been the case since the Golden Buzzer was introduced in 2014.^[7][8] Tonioli then went on to break the rules by pressing it again in the sixth episode, this time for singer Gamal John, who made history as the first ever golden buzzer act to not have the gold confetti fall on him. This had never been done in the show's history, as usually a judge only gets one use of the Golden Buzzer. Nevertheless, it still counted.^[9]

In 2004, Tonioli was selected to be a judge on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, along with Craig Revel Horwood, Arlene Phillips, and head judge Len Goodman. In 2005, he was then chosen to be a judge on Dancing with the Stars, along with Goodman and Carrie Ann Inaba, where he, along with Inaba, has remained since.^[10][11] For one week during both series 16 and series 17 of Strictly Come Dancing, he was replaced by guest judge Alfonso Ribeiro, due to a broadcasting conflict between the two shows.^[12][13] In addition, Tonioli was also involved in the ABC talent competition Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann.^[10][14]

Tonioli quickly became known for his commentary style, often getting out of his chair and physically describing a performance, using colourful descriptives. As examples, during his time with the U.S. Dancing With the Stars, Tonioli called Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan "a little lynx on the prowl"^[15] and labelled singer and actor Billy Ray Cyrus "a crazy bear lost in a swamp".^[16]

The lowest score Tonioli has ever given a contestant was a '2', awarded only once on Dancing With the Stars, to Master P and his partner Ashly DelGrosso for their Paso Doble. This was due to Master P's lack of showmanship and unwillingness to train and participate in the show.^[17] On Strictly Come Dancing, Tonioli has never awarded a '9' when every other judge has awarded a '10', although this has happened on multiple occasions on Dancing With the Stars.^[18]

A minor controversy arose following Tonioli's remarks to Dancing With the Stars contestant Michael Bolton and dance partner Chelsie Hightower during the 27 September 2010 show, when he called Bolton's jive dance the worst he had seen in all 11 seasons, later awarding him a score of '3'. Bolton expressed his dissatisfaction prominently in the media afterward, stating:

"To me, [Bruno] let everybody down. My mom was there, she flew in. She's 90 and I thought she was going to really enjoy it, and I just didn't expect that level of disrespect from him."^[19]

This prompted ABC to release a statement firmly defending Tonioli:^[20]

"Bruno's role as a judge is to give his honest opinions on the quality of the dances he's judging, which is what he did in this case. While we respect the feelings of our celebrities and dancers, we don't feel Bruno should be expected to apologize for doing his job."

In 2020, due to flight restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, Tonioli was stuck in the U.S. and therefore did not appear on the Strictly judging panel at all during the series, instead appearing each week via video during Sunday night's results shows.^[21]

On 24 June 2021, it was announced that Anton Du Beke, the longest-running Strictly professional, would replace Tonioli as a permanent judge on Strictly Come Dancing for series 19.^[22] It was then announced on 19 May 2022 that Tonioli would not be returning to Strictly, and that Du Beke would take over permanently.^[23] Tonioli remarked on the matter:

"Well I always will miss it, it's my family, I mean we'll always be friends and you never know what's going to happen. At the moment, you know it's just as impossible, you know the situation is too complicated but they're all my brothers and sisters. We're all loving each other, you know, no hard feelings, they're great, they do a great job."^[24]

In 2016, a surprise challenge on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars saw Tonioli work with Jodie Sweetin and the season's eventual-winner Nyle DiMarco and their professional partners. During the sequence, the two celebrities swapped partners, seeing DiMarco and Keo Motsepe dance the tango in ballroom hold, with both men shirtless, and Mostsepe lift and twirl DiMarco. This was the first time a same-sex pairing danced in a scored dance in any franchise of the show.^[25]

On Christmas Day 2022, in the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, Tonioli surprised viewers by making a guest appearance and singing "Don't Leave Me This Way" by the Communards.^[26] Reactions to the performance were mixed.^[27][28][29]

Tonioli is fluent in five languages: Italian, English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French.^[30] He has lived in London since 1975^[31] but owns a property in Los Angeles for commitments in the U.S.^[32]

Tonioli is gay and has spoken of the homophobic bullying he suffered in his youth.^[33] In 2009, Rolling Stone magazine said that Tonioli had "won America's heart with his gay-Italian-maniac steez."^[34] Since 2010, Tonioli has been in a relationship with model Jason Schanne, and the couple held a commitment ceremony in 2012.^[35]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bruno Tonioli.

• Judges' biography at BBC Strictly Come Dancing site Archived 20 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine
• Biography at ABC Dancing with the Stars site
• Dancing With The Stars: Is Michael Bolton Over-Reacting? at KRTH-FM
• Bruno Tonioli at IMDb