Strictly Come Dancing star admits devastating news has 'been tough'
Strictly Come Dancing favourite Dianne Buswell has opened up about the tragic death of her grandfather. Dianne spoke about her relative dying aged 99 in Western Australia on the Winning Isn't Everything podcast with fellow Strictly winner. She explained: "He only celebrated his 99th birthday two weeks ago. I don't I don't think he wanted to reach 100."
She fondly recalled how her grandpa, affectionately known as Buzz, took pride in her triumphant Strictly journey, telling Chris: "He called you the blind fellow, he couldn't believe that I taught the blind fella how to dance."
After lifting the coveted Glitterball Trophy, Dianne returned Down Under to spend precious moments with Buzz, reminiscing together as they watched her dance routines. She recounted: "We watched some of the dances together. He got very emotional about it. He loved it. And before I left, he said to me, 'You know, I'm pretty much done'."
Despite the family's hopes for Buzz to celebrate a centenary, he passed shortly after marking his 99th year. She confessed that she struggled to find the right words when her dad delivered the heartbreaking news, admitting: "I don't know really how to act or what to do in situations like this. I feel like I'm just trying to console my dad over phone, but I didn't really know what to say or do. It's really tough."
Dianne described his final days: "He just began to get really tired and they put like a little oxygen mask on him.
"He was still in his nursing home. So he didn't go to hospital or anything, but he was getting weaker by the day. But he called me a couple of days ago and he was still quite conscious.
"And that was the last time, because my dad told me this morning that, he sadly passed away at about ten something this morning in Australian time. which is really sad, but he's now with his wife, Mary, who passed away from Alzheimer's.
"He loved her so, so much," Diane added. "They were inseparable. He did everything for her. They used to go travelling together. She was a surf life saver, he was a bike rider. They were a very fit and very active couple. So I'm sure he would be up there with her now having a little dance."
Dancing runs in Dianne's family. Alongside her brother Andrew, she became the Western Australian Open Adult New Vogue champion in 2008 and 2010 before joining Aussie TV's So You Think You Can Dance – a spinoff of the US show hosted by Cat Deeley.
Dianne later joined the cast of Australia's Dancing with the Stars and then made the pivotal move to the UK, where she met her now-partner Joe Sugg on the 2018 series of Strictly Come Dancing.
In the podcast, she shared how she had been longing for her family back in Australia and had even begun planning a surprise holiday for her parents, expressing relief that those plans never materialised.
"Something in my head was telling me 'don't book it just yet.' So I kept putting it off...I had this weird feeling. And then last week when my dad was saying 'Pops is not really in a great way' And I thought 'there was my reason.'"
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