Strictly Come Dancing ‘has a girl drawback’, insiders declare

A matter of hours after Strictly bosses were told their professional dancer Graziano Di Prima was about to be sacked for apparently physically abusing partner Zara McDermott, they frantically started making panicked calls to find a replacement.

They couldn’t ignore the rumours within the BBC central London HQ that a video was circulating, allegedly showing the 30-year-old Italian kicking the former Love Island star.

He later apologised, saying: ‘If, as a teacher, I’ve been too professional, too passionate, too competitive, too strict to you, I am sorry.’ 

But the shock revelation came hot on the heels of another contestant, Amanda Abbington, complaining that her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice, bullied her during rehearsals, something he profusely denies. Strictly was days away from announcing the 2024 line-up, and already two male dancers down. What could they do?

They needed enough males to partner with the female celebrities. A quick sticking plaster was found in the form of much-loved heart-throb, Slovenian stalwart Aljaz Skorjanec, who’d quit the show in 2021 – but crucially not under any cloud.

As it was, though, they needn’t have panicked. For it soon became clear that Strictly had a rather more pressing problem on its hands. A woman problem.

Once the stories about Graziano and Giovanni broke, fearful celebrity agents, and their star clients who were in negotiations to join the show, started to think again.

The toxicity that engulfed the once-loved Saturday night juggernaut was now acting as a serious deterrent for women.

Not only were they scared about how they might be treated, they no longer felt comfortable associating themselves with Strictly, a series that has reignited so many careers since it launched in 2004, and which stars once clamoured to join.

Not even the fact it was the show’s super-special 20th anniversary was enough of a pull for women to take part. The outcome is that when the celebrity line-up was announced earlier this month there was, for the first time, a stunningly uneven gender split: six women compared to nine men.

The lack of take-up has meant that the supposed fan favourite Kai Widdrington has been left without a celebrity partner.

There had been speculation that influencer GK Barry, real name Grace Keeling, was a dead cert to sign up, as was former Girls Aloud singer Nicola Roberts.

Former Lioness Jill Scott, known for being a staunch feminist, was also in the running.

And new Blue Peter presenter Shini Muthukrishnan was understood to be on the verge of joining, but none of them actually signed.

One source involved with the signing up process tells me: ‘There has been a real struggle to get women, so much so that the casting team have had to admit defeat and have a hugely unlevel number of men and women. As more and more came out, a red flag became apparent.

‘It has always been the case that there is an equal gender intake. The bosses were absolutely expecting to get a high calibre of women this year, as they did last year and many years before.

‘They make a big deal out of being fair but this year, despite everything, they couldn’t make it work.

‘Of course they hired Aljaz to ensure they had enough men… though they need not have bothered.’

Two weeks ago Strictly fans were left somewhat underwhelmed when they learned of the line-up.

I can also reveal that senior Strictly staff were a little bit embarrassed at the best their casting director could rustle up.

Eighties singer and actress Toyah Willcox was announced along with deaf Love Island contestant Tasha Ghouri, former England hockey player and BBC pundit Sam Quek, and actress Sarah Hadland, best-known for her role in the BBC comedy Miranda. Also joining the line-up is little-known television medic Dr Punam Krishan, who stars on the Corporation’s daytime show Morning Live, and Montell Douglas, who is Fire on the BBC’s reboot of Gladiators.

It is quite the contrast from last year’s star-studded collection of women which included Angela Rippon, Annabel Croft, BBC favourite Angela Scanlon and Sherlock star Ms Abbington.

‘Usually there are women queuing up for a place on Strictly,’ my insider told me.

‘Going on the show is much more lucrative for a woman who wants to reignite her career or give it a bit of a boost than it is for a man, but with all of the stories that have engulfed it this year there is no chance.

‘Half of the women who have signed up are on the BBC’s books in some capacity, which is also rather telling.’

Indeed, Strictly has, after two decades, found itself on the ropes. The whole sorry tale began last October when Ms Abbington first complained to the BBC about the behaviour of dance partner Giovanni Pernice, 33, in rehearsals.

She had been paired with him for the 2023 series, but quit after only five weeks.

After she left, the following month she asked to see recordings of their rehearsals as she considered taking legal action against the BBC.

In January of this year she described how her experience on the show had left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, and then in April the Corporation launched an internal investigation.

In turn, Giovanni quit the show and instructed lawyers.

Meanwhile, Graziano Di Prima, who like Giovanni Pernice hails from Sicily, was sacked last month after video footage was handed to the BBC’s HR team.

It allegedly showed Graziano kicking Ms McDermott as she lay on the floor and later storming off.

‘It was the Graziano thing that really did it for the women,’ said one BBC insider. ‘It is difficult to see things getting any better next year, too.’

One casualty of the Strictly ‘woman problem’ is Kai Widdrington, the former footballer turned professional dancer and choreographer, who joined the show in 2021.

Hailed as a huge success for getting Angela Rippon to the semi-final last year, he was a dead cert to be paired up with a celebrity contestant for this autumn’s show.

As for the BBC, it leaves them with somewhat of an equality problem.

In recent years, Strictly bosses have been keen to up their drive for diversity across all genres.

This year there is the show’s first ever blind contestant, comedian Chris McCausland, as well as Ms Ghouri, who was born deaf.

And there are four stars of colour, which the BBC considers to be representative of the UK population.

In recent years there have also been numerous celebrities with disabilities, including Paralympian Jonnie Peacock, whose right leg was amputated below the knee.

And, of course, there was the of winner of 2022, the deaf actress and model Rose Ayling-Ellis, who was partnered with Giovanni.

‘It is going to stick out like a sore thumb this series that there are so few women,’ said one Strictly employee.

‘We are all ready for the viewers to see very few female celebrities after week five or six, it is going to be dire.

‘The last eight months have damaged Strictly so much it is deeply sad.’