Having commented on every cough and alleged spit of the Strictly drama, there’s one question that won’t stop bothering me.
Why didn’t the female celebrity ‘victims’ come forward earlier? Actress Amanda Abbington quit the show last year, saying later that she would go home ‘crying and vomiting’ after training with Giovanni Pernice and had been left with PTSD.
Two other minor celebs, GMB‘s Ranvir Singh (2020 series) and former Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore (2016), reportedly met Amanda recently for an ’emotional summit’ about Giovanni, who is determined to prove his innocence. What on earth took them so long?
As for the shocking footage of former pro James Jordan telling actress Georgina Bouzova during rehearsals that ‘unless she’s actually physically broken a rib, unless her feet are bleeding, I don’t care,’ that’s from 2006. So we’re going back several years to disclose unacceptable behaviour. Yet none of the celebrities spoke out at the time.
Love Island star Zara McDermott on Strictly with pro dancer Graziano Di Prima in 2023
Zara was kicked and allegedly spat at by Grziano but later said they were friends for life
Quite the opposite, in fact. Last week, we heard that Love Island’s Zara McDermott was kicked and allegedly spat at in 2023 by pro dancer Graziano Di Prima — behaviour that is clearly unacceptable. But Zara declared undying gratitude to Graziano after the contest, saying they were friends for life.
What was it that held back these celebrities? Amanda says she was ‘terrified to speak out’. Terrified of what? Zara says that she was ‘frightened’ it might harm her career (she has a contract with the BBC to produce documentaries) and she didn’t want to be portrayed as a victim.
But we are not talking teenage ingenues here. These are successful, accomplished women. If someone abused me like that in the workplace, first I’d knock him out, then knock on the door of the boss.
The sorry Strictly saga has left me, and I suspect millions of fans, with a bitter taste. In all the brouhaha, I just hope we’re not hearing the echoing thud of minor celebs jumping on the victimhood bandwagon.
My fear for Maya
In ten years Maya Jama, pictured, will wonder why she didn’t stick with Stormzy
Love Island’s Maya Jama, 29, and rapper Stormzy, 30, finally call quits on their decade-long, on-off relationship as he wants to settle down and she wants to party.
In a joint statement, they declare their eternal love. Jolly good, but my concern is for Maya. The next ten years will go by in the blink of a false eyelash. She’ll be 40, have gone through a succession of dud blokes interested only in her fame and fortune, she’ll be longing for a child, single — and wondering why she didn’t stick with the man who’s loved her since she was 20 years old.
Johnny Depp unveils a collection of his paintings inspired by his life experience. One features Vanessa Paradis, his former partner of 14 years and mother of his two children, and is called The Empress. ‘She is magnificent,’ he said. But if she’s so great, why did he split with her and take up with the fruit loop Amber Heard?
The Covid Inquiry blames the Government for failing to prepare for a pandemic that blindsided the whole world. It says lessons must be learned. Yes. The first is that never again should we be put into a lockdown that destroyed jobs, created a lazy WFH culture, damaged the mental health of millions and left children deprived of a proper education. But don’t expect to hear that from this gravy train for lawyers and box-tickers.
Running scared
Adidas is ‘revising’ its official Olympic campaign which previously featured controversial pro-Gaza model Bella Hadid sporting a revamped version of the iconic trainers first worn at the 1972 Olympics, when 11 Jewish competitors and coaches were murdered by Palestinian terror group Black September. But how could Adidas get it so wrong? After all, this is the firm which, having collaborated with Kanye West’s Yeezy brand, parted company with the rapper following his anti-Semitic rants on Twitter in 2022.
Vinyl sure is making a comeback
Watching Kylie Minogue performing at Hyde Park — where she had to be lifted onto the stage in eye-wateringly tight red plastic trousers — reminded me of when a blonde bombshell advertising executive walked into a meeting in similar crotch-hugging vinyl trousers. One man asked what we were all wondering: ‘How do you get into those pants?’ To which she replied: ‘For starters you can buy me a drink.’
Westminster wars
Who looked happier as they walked into the State Opening of Parliament? Starmer with his massive majority? Or the smashed-to-smithereens Sunak. Seemed to me it was back-stabber Rishi — perhaps because, unlike all the Tory MPs who lost their seats, he can now bask in his family’s £651million fortune.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey says he is ‘sorry’ for ignoring Alan Bates’s warnings about the Horizon IT scandal when he was postal affairs minister and for not replying to his concerns for five months. That’s no comfort to the postmasters falsely imprisoned following his inaction over one of our worst ever miscarriages of justice. Is he really fit to lead our third largest party?
Adele should follow Dolly…
Hot off her two-year, £500,000-a-night Las Vegas residency, Adele says she’s planning a ‘big break’ as she hates fame. ‘I miss everything about before I was famous, I think being anonymous the most.’ Oh, do stop Rolling In The Deep pit of doom. Many stars manage a private personal life — your heroine Dolly Parton has done so brilliantly for 50 years.
Huge respect for Queen Camilla hobbling into the State Opening of Parliament after painfully twisting her ankle. I haven’t left my cottage for ten days after badly damaging my coccyx when I fell flat on my bottom when dancing at 2am to Abba. Felt like I’d met my Waterloo as I surrendered to my bed for 12 hours a day.
Sympathy for footballer Kyle Walker’s ex-girlfriend Lauryn Goodman dwindled when she turned up at the Family Court to thrash out financial arrangements for the two children he sired with her, son Kairo, four, and an eight-month-old daughter. She was wearing an entwined ‘KW’ necklace, a tribute both to her son and his father. That was nasty, not just to Kyle’s wife Annie, but also to their four children.
A judge gives Just Stop Oil co-founder Roger Hallam five years’ jail describing him and four other eco-nutters as fanatics ‘heedless of the rights of your fellow citizens’. JSO champion Chris Packham called the verdict ‘judicial thuggery’ against ‘peaceful climate protesters’. Not how the thousands whose lives were disrupted see it. Time for a lie down, Chris.
I too have been hit by the slug plague. A 6in-long blighter devoured my violas then crept through a gap under the kitchen door and was found feasting on my moggie Ted’s food. I released it in a nearby derelict garden, but not before considering placing it on a busy road!