Brendan Cole (born 23 April 1976 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a ballroom dancer specialising in Latin American dancing (Latin dance). He has appeared on the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing, a dance contest in which a professional ballroom dancer is partnered with a celebrity amateur dancer. He has also judged three seasons of New Zealands own Dancing with the Stars (Dancing with the Stars (New Zealand TV series)).

He has danced since he was six, and came to the United Kingdom when he was nineteen. Before he danced professionally he worked as a builder.

He danced with Camilla Dallerup, a fellow contestant on the BBCs earlier long-running show Come Dancing, as amateurs from 1996, and from 2002-2004 as professionals. They competed for New Zealand: Camilla Dallerup is Danish-born. In 2003 Dallerup and Cole were placed 3rd for Latin American at the UK Closed Championships. During the professional group dances on Strictly Come Dancing, Brendan danced with Karen Hardy for series 3 to 5 then with fellow New Zealander, Hayley Holt, for series 6. His celebrity partner for series six was Lisa Snowdon, with whom he reached the final to be placed third.

In the winter of 2004 Brendan had his first acting experience featuring in the UK feature film Everything To Dance For alongside Sasha Jackson, Travis Oliver and Sally Reeve.

In summer 2006, he joined ITVs Love Island and became the runner-up when the show ended on August 28 2006. Also on that year, he appeared as guest judge on fourth episode of Britains Next Top Model, Cycle 2 where he worked with the remaining 10 contestants to teach ballroom dancing prior to judging.

In January 2007, Brendan appeared on the BBCs duet show Just the Two of Us (Just the Two of Us (TV series)) as a celebrity, with Beverley Knight as his professional partner. They came second.

Cole has appeared on all seven series to date of Strictly Come Dancing. Particularly in the third and fourth series, he has often clashed with the judges over their scoring and comments on his performances. He has on occasion deliberately broken the rules by incorporating illegal lifts into his choreography, and as a result has often been dubbed the "bad boy of Strictly".

Brendan represented the United Kingdom at the first Eurovision Dance Contest in September 2007. His dance partner was Camilla Dallerup. The couple were highly praised by British judges yet only managed to finish fifteenth out of the sixteen entrants.