BBC presenter Ed James has hit out at the ‘nasty’ backlash Josh Widdicombe has received, telling Strictly fans to ‘switch off’ if they don’t like what they’re watching
A BBC presenter has hit out at the backlash that Josh Widdicombe has received following his Strictly Come Dancing debut – and a few stars of the BBC dancing show have left some very telling comments on the posts.
Comedian Josh, 43, joined Emma Willis and Johannes Radebe for their first live show on Saturday as they replaced hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. However, fans weren’t convinced that having a trio of hosts worked.
Yet, it’s Josh in particular who has suffered the wrath of fans for the format change, with some leaving brutal comments on social media about his presenting skills.
BBC presenter Ed James, who is a presenter for BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country, has hit back and questioned “why he’s getting such a hard time”.
“It’s a TV show?! If you didn’t like him, switch off! Why feel the need to go online and give him a harsh time?” He wrote. “He’s a great presenter, doing a massive job and was bound to have been bloody nervous. He’ll be just fine., so will SCD as it’s a brilliant show.,
“Not sure how going online and having a go at him helps anyone… least of all Josh who’s just trying to ther best job he can on one of the biggest platforms in the UK. Can we be a little kinder?
“And if you are tempted to open up social media and join the pile on.,. Go to the gym, have a glass of wine, spend some time outside and hopefully realise this really isn’t something to get all worked up about!”
Ed later added to his comments with a video in his car, admitting he himself had been hit with abuse after sharing the post. “I’ve got a bit of s*** as well, people saying ‘Who do you think you are? Stop telling us what we should do and how we should think. Are we not allowed opinions?’ And I’m like, of course, everyone’s allowed an opinion and I’m not telling anybody what anyone should do. That wasn’t the point. It was just that you don’t have to pile in.
“Yeah, have a debate. Have a go at the BBC, have a go at the producers and question if the format is right, are the people in the right places? All that’s fine. But people are being really nasty, people aree personally having a go at a guy who is literally just trying to do a job – and really early in the job. It’s his first live week. Is that necessary? Is that nice?
“And what kind of person piles in, in public, online in an aggressive way and just being really cruel about it? What does that say about the person that’s doing that comment? So yeah, let’s have a debate about if it works, how it could be better. Of course, that’s normal life, right? But do we have to be horrible about it?”
Ed later spoke about his posts during his radio segment, saying that he wasn’t coming at it from someone who thinks that Strictly is “amazing”. He said that it was a “great show” but that he wasn’t a “massive fan”.
“But I did see everyone going, ‘Josh is awful, he needs to go.’ And then people were just being quite nasty,” he said.
His posts received a wave of support, including from that of pro dancers Dianne Buswell and Lauren Oakley, the latter of whom wrote with a hands up emoji: “yes @__edjames !”
Meanwhile, Emma Willis shared a very telling post herself among a selection of photos from backstage at her first live show. A quote read: “You’ll get judged either way so may as well pick the fun option.”
She captioned the roll: “And then… we were LIVE! #Strictly A little camera roll dump from our first weekend of live shows.”
Co-host commented a love heart emoji in response, as did other Strictly stars and backstage crew.
Former pros of the BBC show haven’t been scared to voice their opinion on the new format changes, with Vincent Simone telling the Mirror that while he thinks the show is fantastic, the upheaval in the presenting duties is a major “downside”.
He says: “I think the only downside of this year is that there’s been way too many changes all in one go. Some people like changes, like me. Some people don’t.
“I can imagine some people saying, ‘Oh, Tess and Claudia are not going to be presenting, I won’t be watching it,’ or, you know, some of the professionals that I used to love, they won’t be performing again, ‘I’m not going to watch it again.’
“So unfortunately, it is what it is. I think there’s been way too many new changes all at once.”
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