‘I wasn’t really thinking beyond myself’: Carlos Gu on the road to making Strictly Come Dancing history (EXCLUSIVE)

When Carlos Gu lifted the Glitterball Trophy at the end of Strictly Come Dancing’s 2025 series, he became the first openly gay and the first Asian professional dancer to do so in the show’s 21-year history. 

It was the culmination of a 20-year journey that began when his mum, who raised Gu alone in Taiyuan, northern China, took him to Chinese classical dance classes at the age of 11. He moved over to Latin and ballroom classes, and such was his talent that at the age of 13, he left his hometown to pursue a dancing career at a boarding school in Beijing. There, he quickly learned not just how to survive, but how to thrive in his own company. Independence came early, resilience even earlier. 

Carlos Gu’s glittering 20-year dance career

Looking back on over 20 years as a professional dancer, Gu has led a glittering career. With Susan Sun, his professional dance partner since 2011, he has notched up over 80 competitive results in Latin categories. Gu also won third place at the German Open Championship in 2017, and was runner-up in the UK’s Amateur Latin Rising Star competition in the same year. He has also won the Chinese National Latin Championship.

But Gu, now 33, admits that despite the glitz and glamour of the dance world, the hard work that comes with it has taken its toll.

“I think the competitive, professional dance life means you have no life outside of dancing. You’re always chasing, always training,” says Gu, the exhaustion of more than two decades in elite competition still lingering in his voice. But despite the toil involved, Gu acknowledges the positive side of his dance career: “I did grow a lot.” He recalls a monumental moment with his dance teacher that would quietly reshape his mindset forever. “I remember we were always told that dancing is a way of expressing yourself. Express yourself; [don’t] impress others.” 

“I don’t want to impress judges. I’m here to express myself the way that I can” – Gu recalling his philosophy dancing into Strictly Come Dancing in 2022

He carried that philosophy into the Strictly Come Dancing competition, when the hit BBC show came calling in 2022 to sign him as a professional dancer. ‘I don’t want to impress judges. I’m here to express myself the way that I can,’ he remembers thinking.  

The move saw Gu step away from competitive ballroom for the first time in his life, even if only briefly. Within a month, he had packed up his life in Beijing and moved to London, trading one high-pressure stage for another. 

In 2025, Gu’s third year on the show, in a twist of fate he was partnered with former England footballer Karen Carney. This casting decision would change his life for the better – and not just because they would end up winning the competition. For while he taught Carney how to dance, she, in turn, helped him learn a valuable life lesson.

“I think she is the one who really shook my perspective as a human being” – Gu on his winning partnership with Karen Carney

“There are times in adulthood when you’re not lucky enough to meet somebody who can change your life,” says Gu. “It’s really rare. And I think she is the one who really shook my perspective as a human being. She changed me into being a better human,” he adds, pausing before recalling the words that would come to redefine his entire Strictly experience. “She’s the only person I met on the show who said this to me. She said, ‘Carlos, Strictly is not about me, not about you. Strictly is about bringing joy to people.’” 

Unlike with previous partners, Gu wasn’t straining on tiptoes in pursuit of the Glitterball Trophy. In fact, he didn’t see victory coming at all. “I think I was really, really influenced by Karen and her athlete spirit,” he says. “She never really thinks about next week. She never really thinks about getting to the final.” 

“It was very self-centred” – Gu on his Strictly Come Dancing drive prior to being partnered with Carney

It wasn’t until week eight of the show that he allowed himself to recognise just how far they might go. But Carney steadied him. “I think that really helped me stay in the present. Everything that came after that was a bonus.” 

During an interview with presenter Claudia Winkleman on the night of the final, after the pair had danced their last dance, Gu became particularly emotional on national TV about the effect partnering with Carney had had on him. In a moment that tugged at viewers’s heartstrings, he was especially hard on himself, reflecting on the year he had gone without a dance partner, saying that he hadn’t deserved one, and sharing his realisation that he hadn’t been a team player. Looking back on his attitude before Carney, he now admits: “I wasn’t really sharing. I wasn’t really thinking beyond myself; it was very self-centred.” 

Read the full interview in the Attitude May/June 2026 issue, available in print and on digital platforms including Apple News+ and the Attitude app.