Strictly Come Dancing ‘has been tarnished’ by latest BBC scandal: ‘Time to pull the plug!’

The BBC have been urged to “pull the plug” on their hit competition show Strictly Come Dancing after the series landed itself in a fresh scandal.

Several professional dancers involved with the show have been faced with “bullying” allegations, including former stars Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima.

In a new development of the Strictly drama, former contestant and Paralympian Will Bayley has spoken out about his time on the show and the “lack of aftercare” he received after suffering a knee injury during rehearsal in 2019.

Discussing the BBC’s beloved show on GB News, commentator Nichi Hodgson said the broadcaster is “desperate for this to go away” as the show approaches its 20th year.

Hodgson said of the scandal: “It feels like Strictly is having its Love Island moment. Obviously, the execs are desperate to keep it because it’s a 20-year show that brings in a lot of viewers still.

“Maybe it’s just time to pull the plug. When a brand becomes this tarnished, what do you do?”

Weighing in on the allegations, host Ellie Costello argued how it has taken the BBC “years for this to be picked up” when the show’s rehearsals are filmed.

Ellie claimed: “There are big questions to ask here of the BBC. The bosses at the BBC would have been all too aware of what was going on in these rehearsals, if there was violence, if there was abuse, if there was bullying going on.

“Why was this not picked up on before? Why has it taken years for these celebrities to come out?”

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GB News host Eamonn Holmes then argued that the celebrity “would need to make a complaint” for the training footage to be reviewed, claiming that the BBC “will not watch or listen to hours of tape”.

Eamonn explained: “Somebody would have to complain about it. They get hours of tape, they’re not going to watch it – only if someone then brought it up would it be referred to.”

Highlighting the case of TV star Zara McDermott, who was “kicked” by professional partner Graziano Di Prima, Hodgson said McDermott felt “too scared to come forward” because Strictly is “such a beloved show”.

Commentator Connor Tomlinson also weighed in on the Strictly scandal and argued that the professional dancers will now “fear they may not be invited back” following the allegations made against them.

Shedding light on the professional dancers in the show, Eamonn told GB News: “The standard dancers who are there for three or four or five years will ask for more money, claiming that their profiles will increase and they think they have power.

“Heaven forbid that as a performer you would have power or actually know what you’re talking about in TV terms. But there’s talk that they’ll change the professionals now every single year, and you won’t have favourites like that.”

Highlighting another “issue” with Strictly, Eamonn claimed that the show is signing up too many celebrities who are “already theatre-trained”.

He added: “They’re taking in trained dancers, people from stage school and stage shows. You should just have people basically who are idiots like me, who come on there and do what they do.

“And if you improve, you improve. And if you don’t, I think that makes better telly.”