Strictly Come Dancing has welcomed a huge number of celebrities onto their dancefloor over the 20 years of transmission, and while many have spoken positively about their experience, there have been cases of the exact opposite, as well as others who had a mixed experience.
Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima have both exited the BBC show after allegations of misconduct on the series, with their celebrity partners Amanda Abbington and Zara McDermott sharing how their partnerships took away from the joy of participating.
The BBC have also announced that they are taking measures in order to introduce ‘practical steps’ to support welfare. Dance rehearsals will now be monitored, and a production team member present during training room rehearsals at all times.
As the broadcaster continues to investigate the misconduct in the ballroom and Latin show, let’s take a look back at the stars who found that all that glitters isn’t gold, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor branding it ‘cruel’ and Jamelia feeling as though she was shown ‘disrespect’.
Zara McDermott (2023)
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After Graziano left the BBC series following claims of ‘physical incidents’, including allegations he ‘kicked and hit’ Zara, the former Love Island star posted a statement on Instagram expressing her feelings and detailing how difficult she’s found it to watch ‘distressing’ footage of ‘particular incidents’.
‘So much of my Strictly experience was everything I could have dreamt of. The entire production team and everyone behind the scenes as well as my fellow contestants were so amazing to work with,’ she wrote.
‘However, my experience inside the training room was very different. Reports have been made about my treatment on the show and there were witnesses to some events, as well as videos of particular incidents which are incredibly distressing to watch.’
Amanda Abbington (2023)
Amanda was partnered with Giovanni in the most recent series, but unexpectedly left after just a handful of performances.
There have since been reports that Sherlock actor Amanda’s departure was due to a behind-the-scenes feud and it was later said she was seeking legal advice.
Giovanni has defended himself on social media, saying he ‘rejects any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour, and I look forward to clearing my name’.
‘Giovanni is nasty. He was awful to a few of us, a group of us,’ she told Daily Mail+.
Amanda also claimed she complained to BBC producers early into the series, and said she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after working with Giovanni.
Nina Wadia (2021)
Nina Wadia was the first to be voted out of the contest and felt ‘very down’ after the results.
On the Lads Dads and Couple Beers podcast, Nina explained why she didn’t feel it was a fair contest.
‘If you have a competition, have a level playing field. Give everybody a chance, or if not that, then at least mark accordingly,’ she said.
‘You can’t give someone like me a three when I’ve tried so hard and attempted something so technically difficult, and then at the same time give someone else who’s made a bit of a mistake a seven just because they looked good doing it. I don’t understand the marking system at all.’
The actress and partner Neil Jones received an ‘actually shocking’ score of 18 for their tango, with the low points contributing to their early goodbye.
Vick Hope (2018)
The Strictly experience was described as ‘brutal’ by Vick Hope.
‘I loved the craftsmanship but it was incredibly tiring. I was doing Capital Breakfast at the same time so it was brutal – the show, the interviews and meetings, then eight hours of training,’ she said in an interview with Marie Claire UK.
‘Of course, I was devastated when the dance lessons were cut short, but that was merely a catalyst for the breakdown that followed.’
After leaving the competition in week five, radio presenter Vick, who was partnered with Graziano, liked former Strictly dancer James Jordan’s tweet that stated she would be better off working with fellow dancer Neil.
Danny John-Jules (2018)
Death in Paradise actor Danny John-Jules has slammed the show as ‘dirty’ and ‘filthy’, and claimed the show’s producers invented bullying allegations to evict him after he received the first ten score of the season in episode five.
Speaking on Michael Fenton Stevens’s My Time Capsule podcast, the Red Dwarf star said: ‘It’s a dirty show on that level. On that level it’s a filthy show – it’s based on tabloid stories.
‘The thing about Strictly is that it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going into a well-oiled machine which at that time was the biggest show on telly.
‘I already knew when I went in there what they were expecting of me.
‘Because I wasn’t giving them anything to chew on, they just went out there and made it up.’
A BBC spokesperson in 2019 told Metro.co.uk: ‘This claim is categorically untrue.’
Laura Whitmore (2016)
TV presenter Laura Whitmore ‘cried every day’ while taking part in Strictly with Giovanni.
After he had split from actress Georgia May Foote, who was his dance partner in 2015, Laura felt she was painted as ‘blonde bait in a sequinned dress’ and a ‘love interest’.
Writing for Irish magazine Hot Press, she said: ‘I love dancing – I topped the leaderboard twice – but I was thrown into the middle of a break-up that had nothing to do with me. Once again, I was a “rumoured love interest”.
‘I was placed with a partner I was extremely uncomfortable with – and in the end I felt broken. I cried every day. And I really was broken, both mentally and physically, by the end.’
Jamelia (2015)
Jamelia felt she was shown ‘disrespect’ on Strictly and also claimed that results were fixed.
‘When I was on Strictly, basically every single day they would tell me that I couldn’t wear my natural hair and they wanted me to relax my hair,’ she alleged on Mo Gilligan’s podcast.
‘Every single day for 10 weeks, they’re telling me that “you need to relax your hair, your hair doesn’t look elegant”.
‘I remember [being like] you don’t even understand the levels of disrespect that you’re saying to me as a black woman.
‘I was doing my own hair and make-up for every show.
‘So that experience was like torture,’ she summarised.
A BBC spokesperson responded to the comments: ‘At no time did Strictly ask that Jamelia style her own hair.
‘At the start of the series, Jamelia requested the use of a hairstylist of her choice and we gave her a contribution towards that cost.
‘From week three onwards Jamelia decided that she would have her hair styled by the in-house Strictly team and she seemed delighted with the results for the rest of her time on the show.’
Jamelia also wasn’t shy about making suggestions that Strictly fixed the series so that Peter Andre got through a dance-off over her.
‘I think we did a great last dance,’ she told Zoe Ball on spin-off series It Takes Two, while sitting next to her dance partner Tristan MacManus. ‘But it wasn’t until they re-recorded Pete’s standing ovation, I’d say that was the moment we knew we were going home.’
Jamelia’s comments were later addressed by a BBC spokesperson who explained to Metro.co.uk: ‘Following Peter’s performance in the dance off, for which he received a standing ovation from the audience, continuity shots were taken during a break in filming to reset the dance floor.’
‘These extra opportunities to capture audience reaction are standard practice in recording TV shows of this nature.’
Caroline Flack (2014)
Caroline Flack won Strictly in 2014 alongside pro dancer Pasha Kovalev.
However, she later admitted feeling ‘so sad’ in the months that followed.
According to The Times, former Love Island host Caroline – who died from suicide in 2020 aged 40 – said: ‘It all started the day after I won Strictly . I woke up and felt like somebody had covered my body in clingfilm.
‘I couldn’t get up and just couldn’t pick myself up at all the next year.
‘I felt ridiculous, being so sad when I’d just won the biggest show on telly.’
Strictly aired a tribute to Caroline after her death in 2020, with the judges and stars sharing their love for her.
Pasha said winning Strictly with the presenter was ‘incredible’ and stressed lifting the Gitterball trophy with Caroline ‘will always hold a special place in my heart’.
‘You could feel she was lost in the moment,’ explained Janette Manrara added. ‘As a performer you can’t ask for more. It is a memory I hold close to my heart.
‘I think overall she would have said her Strictly journey was magical. I’m so happy she was able to pick up that Glitterball and win.’
Gregg Wallace (2014)
‘I didn’t enjoy it in any way, shape or form,’ Gregg Wallace stated in an interview with Mirror TV.
The Masterchef judge ‘broke out in cold sores’ and ‘in tears by the second week’ – although added that he doesn’t blame the show for his troubles.
‘It just opened up a dark side of my personality that I didn’t know existed. If there’s anything that I’m not good at, I work really hard at it to make sure I am, that’s what I’m like,’ he explained.
‘And on Strictly I didn’t have time to be good and it freaked me out so I was worse than average because I just got myself worked up and it led to a panic because I knew I wasn’t going to be very good.’
He also didn’t feel that partner Aliona Vilani liked him, and has since said: ‘I love dancing, but if I were paired with somebody who liked me, then I would have done better.’
Rachel Riley (2013)
Countdown presenter Rachel Riley has claimed the show left her with PTSD and said that she was prescribed CBT – a talking therapy that can help patients manage problems by altering the way they think about them and is often used to treat anxiety, depression and PTSD.
‘As soon as the music would start, I would have a fuzzy brain and it was like an out-of-body experience,’ she said.
‘I advise friends not to go on the show and I know people who have dropped out of it due to the mental pressures involved,’ she told The Times.
‘I don’t think there is enough awareness of the psychological effects it has.’
In a statement to Metro.co.uk, a BBC spokesperson said planning around care for those taking part in and competing in our programmes was ‘always a core part of our production process and we have BBC editorial guidelines to help protect those taking part’.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor (2013)
Sophie Ellis-Bextor has reportedly said her time on Strictly in 2013 made her think of Charles Dickens’ quote: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’
According to The Times, she wrote in her memoir Spinning Plates that Strictly could be ‘cruel’.
She added: ‘I think the majority of its cruelty could be sidestepped with a little more internal infrastructure. A bit of focus on the participants’ emotional well-being.’
The Murder On The Dancefloor singer, who was paired with Brendan Cole and finished the competition in fourth place, also said Strictly put pressure on her marriage, admitting that she and her husband ‘paid a heavy price’.
She also said on Lorraine in 2021 that she would have enjoyed Strictly more if there’d been support in place for her.
She explained: ‘I think Strictly has got so much about it that’s glorious and joyful, but I think if they just had a little but of emotional support it would have definitely improved my experience, but I only speak for myself obviously and it’s still a lot of happy memories for me.’
Fern Britton (2012)
Fern Britton once claimed she was ‘kicked and shoved’ during her time on Strictly while paired with Russian pro-Artem Chigvintev.
The Celebrity Big Brother star later said Artem would ‘look at my feet and just kick me or shove me’.
She recalled him allegedly saying: ‘You just stand there and don’t move, I dance round you.’
‘He was like, “Shut your face. Go home before I kill you.” I would say, “Oh please just kill me, it would be easier”. Or what was his other one? “If you go for a cup of tea now, I will blow off like an atomic bomb.” I thought, well I won’t correct him on that one,’ she added.
Fern continued to say that while they ‘did love each other for a moment or two’, but her partner ‘wasn’t charm personified’.
‘I did kind of enjoy it, but it was grim at the same time,’ she summarised.
Soon after Artem responded to her claims, telling the Daily Express: ‘I believe I treated Fern with respect and genuine care and these claims about me are the opposite of everything I believe in and the person I am.
‘I cannot imagine what has prompted such statements which come as a shock to me.’
Fiona Phillips (2005)
Fiona Phillips, who was partnered with professional dancer Brendan Cole, has said that she regrets appearing on the show.
Speaking to The Mirror, Fiona said: ‘I felt so self-conscious, but I thought, “I will have a professional dancer and it’s a nice programme.”‘
She added: ‘But Brendan is a rough old taskmaster and really wanted to be number one or nothing.’
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Fiona said she ‘should never have done’ the programme, as she didn’t enjoy dancing on the show.
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