Strictly pro dancers ‘complained’ about getting partnered with women over 40

It has been alleged that Strictly Come Dancing pro dancers ‘complained’ about being partnered with women over 40.

The BBC series is currently facing a multitude of scandals emerging, following allegations against several pro dancers, after concerns were raised about the treatment of contestants including Amanda Abbington and Zara McDermott.

Amanda, after quitting Strictly just five weeks in, described her former dance partner Giovanni Pernice’s behaviour as ‘unnecessary, abusive, cruel and mean’. He’s denied the claims.

Months later, Graziano Di Prima shockingly quit the programme over allegations he ‘kicked and hit’ Love Island star Zara and said he ‘deeply regrets’ the events that led to his departure.

As the BBC invetigation over behind-the-scenes misconduct has spiralled, more claims against dancers have since emerged, and with recent reports that five dancers could be facing the axe next year.

And now another bombshell allegation has come to light, with talent agent Melanie Blake claiming pro dancers were ‘arrogant’ and ‘sabotaged votes’ and that some celebrities faced ‘ageism’.

In a lengthy statement on X, she wrote: ‘So I wasn’t going to say this but with all these #StrictlyComeDancing revelations spitting opinion I feel it’s time tell you my unbiased experiences of when I was with celebrities I represented who appeared in the show – I won’t name them as it’s up to them if they want to go public but I was backstage and present for many incidents so I know what I am about to say is true.

‘Unlike #DOI which is obviously much more dangerous and also less high profile – there was (during the years I had clients in it) a massive difference between the the attitudes of the professionals v the celebrities on these two dance based shows.

‘No one ever had a bad experience on DOI – where again I attended tons of the shows, was back stage, went to photo shoots & training etc as I did with Strictly – it’s well known I’m an agent who gets way more involved with their clients than most and has/had a lot of access to the shows most agents only attend the actual performance of – so whilst no one ever had anything bad to say about it DOI nor did I ever see or hear anything negative on that show – I did, many times on #Strictly.’

‌She went on to claim things she’d ‘personally witnessed’ including: ‘Pro dancers being introduced to their celeb partners being absolutely arrogant and saying they’d either never heard of them (and I’m sure they knew who they had because the ‘meet’ vt is about the celebs surprise at which pro they got – not the other way round – so they clearly couldn’t even be bothered to read the bios.

‘Immediate ageism if the female celeb was over 40 – actively saying they wished they had ‘not got an old one’ and ‘I’ll never get her to the final’ – all within in ear shot of the celeb & me which of course was a massive confidence dent before they’d even began.

‘Actively – if they didn’t like the partner they had / believe they would make the final – trying to get voted out as fast as possible so that they then could go and do their own work – ie photo shoots and promo about them so effectively ruining the celebs chance.

‘Being openly annoyed at being voted in because the celeb was popular despite not in their opinion being ‘any good’.

‌’Choosing songs and routines that were dull again to sabotage the votes – technically they are given a song but actually you can change it if you think it’s not going to be good – something I did myself several times which resulted in the client staying in when the original song would have seen them go out.’

She went on: ‘I could go on but you get the picture – My take is that there was / is a culture where the pro dancer had free reign to do as they like – I want to stress this is only the experience I personally witnessed of certain pros & I am sure loads of them would never [behave] like this but all of the above is true and happened – ageism & ego were paramount – followed by arrogance and inappropriateness.’

Concluding her statement, she said: ‘On the plus side I have many happy memories of watching Bruce rehearse- he used to come and talk to the audience- Tess was always lovely – as were the producers – why no one including me has revealed these things earlier is probably because we don’t want to shatter the illusion of a show so many love – but now I’ve heard what I witnessed wasn’t isolated – I feel it’s only fair to the celebs currently wanting to be believed – that my own actual experience backs up their accounts.

‘Let’s hope this brings a cultural change of respect for the celebrity contestants who go in wanting to give it their all and enjoy the whole experience in the future. The judges were always lovely btw. MB x’

Her comments come ahead of the BBC publishing its annual report today, on Tuesday, amid controversy about the culture and treatment of contestants on Strictly.

The corporation will highlight its successes over the past year and disclose the pay of its top talent, but focus is likely to be on the storm of negative stories about its flagship show and the current internal BBC investigation.

Metro.co.uk has approached the BBC for comment.

Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC One and iPlayer later this year.

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