BBC slammed by ex Strictly stars after dropped pro dancers cant return
Former Strictly Come Dancing stars Vincent Simone and Ian Waite believe that the BBC needs to update the way they handle the show’s professional dancers.
Ahead of the 21st series of Strictly airing on Saturday (September 16), Vincent, 44, and Ian 52, have discussed their feelings with GB News.
Ian was an integral member of the show between 2004 and 2009 before hanging up his dancing shoes to host Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two (2010-2020). He recently shared his view on how he believes the established celebrity competition should be organised.
“My personal opinion is that they should have a very big pool of dancers and they change it up every time,” he told the outlet.
He also claimed that professionals should be rotated depending on which celebrities answer the call because it gets “really hard” dancing “year after year”.
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“So it would be nice for certain pros to have a year off, let’s say Giovanni [Pernice], have a year off, and then come back next year and feel fresh and to do it again,” Ian added.
However, the former It Takes Two host stated that regulars would probably not be given time off as the “BBC are renowned for not bringing pros back”.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen any pros being dropped one year and then brought back the year after which is unusual because in America they do and in Australia they do.”
Vincent – who competed for the Glitterball Trophy between the years 2006 and 2012 – also had his say on the show’s current roster of professional talent.
“I mean, from a covering part of it, if someone gets injured, you have some extra professionals, which are already known roughly by the public so you don’t get like a full-on stranger jumping into the show for injury purposes,” he said.
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“But otherwise… I mean, our group numbers back in the days, it was quite intimate, you know, it was like three couples, four couples.
“But now the dance floor is packed, which is amazing, you know, looks spectacular, but [the show] could just employ dancers,” Vincent added.
Express.co.uk reached out to representatives at the BBC who declined to comment.
Despite calling out the broadcasting house, both dancers went on to praise former Strictly professionals such as Kevin Clifton and Oti Mabuse.
“I mean with those guys, I just think it’s fantastic for us because they have paved the way for the other pros to make careers in other areas,” said Ian.
“We’re starting to get a history of people breaking out of the box going into presenting, going into judging like Oti, going into musical theatre like Kevin and Joanne Clifton.”
Kevin, 40, left the show in early 2020 and has since gone on to star in musical productions of Rock of Ages and Strictly Ballroom.
After Oti left in 2022, she made appearances as a judge on The Masked Singer and presented the ITV dating show Romeo and Duet.
While Vincent and Ian are no longer part of the longstanding BBC show, they are still working together.
Their live show, The Magic of Dance, is currently on tour and will be hitting cities such as Darlington, Burton-on-Trent and Epsom before the end of the month.
The 21st series of Strictly Come Dancing will air via BBC One on Saturday at 6.35pm.
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