Strictly Come Dancing underwent a major shake-up this year, with three new presenters joining the BBC show following the departures of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman
Former Strictly Come Dancing star Erin Boag has claimed the cast of the show are told what they can and can’t say, as she reflected on the programme’s latest changes. This year, the show welcomed Emma Willis, Johannes Radebe and Josh Widdicombe as its new presenters, following the departures of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.
Other changes have included the way the pairings are announced, while producers have also introduced five new professional dancers.
A long-term dance partner and friend of Anton Du Beke, Erin was asked what she believes he would make of the changes. Anton has been part of the show since its inception in 2004, progressing from professional dancer to judge alongside Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse.
Asked by Vanessa Feltz whether she thought Anton would be finding the changes difficult, Erin shared on the At Home With Vanessa podcast: “He is [a purist]. I think he would obviously love to see more of the show of what Bruce [Forsyth] and Tess [Daly] did at the beginning, absolutely.
“But, he is governed by the people upstairs, so he has to go with the trend, if you like. And I’m sure that the judges, everybody, yes, are almost told what to say, [they’re] definitely told what they can’t say and sometimes they would like to do that.
“And they have to run with the trend, because if they don’t run with the trend, they get warned,” she claimed.
Asked by the host if she was stating her claims as fact, Erin replied: “Yes, they get warned, it is a fact. We’ve been there, we’ve been told, ‘You’ve got to say this, you can’t say that’, well hold on a minute because that’s happening, but ‘you can’t say that’.”
Erin went on to say she didn’t have an example at the top of her head, but claimed that there are “a lot of things” that can’t be said or done “because they have a direction that they want to go [in]”.
From her experience, she also alleged that certain song choices may be changed, even if it means the steps don’t necessarily match.
Reach PLC has contacted representatives for Anton and Strictly for comment.
Last weekend, Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden became the first dancing duo to leave the competition following a dance-off with Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu. After each pairing performed their routines again, all four judges chose to save Jaime, the daughter of actor Ray Winstone.
The remaining 14 couples will perform again this week in the hope of moving one step closer to the Glitterball trophy.
Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday at 6.15pm on BBC One
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