ALISON BOSHOFF: Feuding blondes, flouncing judges and Ed 'No Mates' Balls who is SO disliked his co-stars refuse to socialise with him... yes, welcome to STRICTLY BITCHY
Over just six tumultuous weeks there has been a racism row, a judge storming out, a celebrity quitting, more injuries than ever before, and the usual problems of couples getting too close — or finding that they can’t stand to be anywhere near each other.
Throw in rows over under-marking (Danny Mac) and over-eating (Ed Balls) and the vexed question of who gets to replace head judge Len Goodman when he bows out at the end of this series, and you surely have the most extraordinarily bitchy series in Strictly’s history.
UNSTEADY EDDIE’S DESPERATE FOR PALS
For the audience at home, former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has been the most wildly entertaining contestant.
But not everyone is a fan. Backstage there is carping and jealousy about his stellar media profile — he has been getting more press than anyone else — and his inexplicable smugness at remaining in the competition despite his distinct lack of ability.
While most celebrities, on being voted through to the next round without facing the terror of the dance-off, respond with palpable relief and effusive thanks to viewers, Balls has appeared remarkably nonplussed.
‘There is jealousy,’ says a Strictly source. ‘What makes it tricky is that he is not very good at reading people, so he will make a joke and be laughing away, and he doesn’t pick up that other people aren’t finding him hilarious.’
And, as he admitted in a radio interview last week, he is being socially excluded by the younger crowd. Balls, 49, said: ‘You don’t finish until 11 o’clock at night, and luckily there’s a tent with a bar so you can finally chill out.
‘The difference is that contestants my age then go home and go to bed, and the young celebrities go down to Camden or Central London and, I think, go through to the morning. Really sadly, they’ve not invited me.
‘There’s this awkward moment about midnight and people sort of slip out and I sort of stand there and nobody really says goodbye because they all want to leave without people noticing. It’s really tragic.’
He added: ‘I wouldn’t mind doing it once. I’m going to talk to them. Stop excluding me!’
Some of his peers are said to have even been sniggering over his claims to have lost nearly a stone in weight through dancing — and say that he is as well-upholstered as ever thanks to his appreciation of the backstage catering.
NOT SO CHA CHA CHA-RMING
Two of the glamorous female contestants have developed reputations for not being especially friendly on set. Little-known TV presenter Laura Whitmore — who has been in the dance-off once and missed last week’s episode due to injury — has irritated fellow celebrities with her aloofness.
A Strictly source says: ‘Laura has the air of being up herself, not friendly. She has a trick of looking straight through you, which people don’t like.’
The other woman said to have ruffled feathers in the studio is Louise Redknapp, the former pop star who is the wife of ex-England footballer Jamie.
‘It might be because she is teamed with Kevin Clifton and he is so competitive that it puts everyone else’s noses out of joint,’ says my source. ‘I am told that (presenter) Tess Daly is not a fan.’
CLOSER THAN NECESSARY?
The ‘curse of Strictly’ has become quite a cliche and every year it seems that a romance starts on the show between a professional dancer and their celebrity partner.
This year, model Daisy Lowe, 27, and her hunky Slovenian partner Aljaz Skorjanec, 26, have been notably close even away from the dance floor.
A source said: ‘She is really leaning on him. They are together all the time, not just in rehearsals but on nights out as well.
‘She seems very fragile and in need of a confidence boost. I don’t know how his fiancee — fellow dancer Janette Manrara — puts up with it.’
Certainly Janette has been showing saintly forbearance. Last month, Daisy and Aljaz attended the GQ awards together, after which Daisy called him the ‘best date ever’.
This week, perhaps in a bid to stop the gossip, Daisy has brought her boyfriend Frankie Wade, a part-time actor and model, to watch rehearsals.
Meanwhile, Australian dancer Natalie Lowe and Olympic long-jumper Greg Rutherford also seem to have developed positively molten chemistry.
A friend of Lowe’s told me: ‘I saw them at a film premiere together and she was stroking the back of his neck and cuddling him. He seems very taken with her.’
Rutherford, who has a two-year-old son, Milo, with long-term partner Susie Verrill, is training eight hours a day and says that he is desperate not to let his dance partner down.
He insisted this week that he will not fall prey to the Strictly curse. ‘I didn’t come into Strictly looking for a girlfriend.’
He added: ‘We all get on very well. Me, Natalie, James — her fiance — we all go for dinner together. The only Strictly curse that has been happening is the bromance between me and Rob (Judge Rinder). There’s a lot of male love going on.’
AND KEPT AT ARM’S LENGTH?
BBC News presenter Naga Munchetty, 41, was apparently spotted quarrelling with her professional dance partner Pasha Kovalev.
Perhaps as a result, she was very careful to pay a glowing tribute to him after being voted off in week three.
‘I’m desperately sad that I’m not going to be dancing with Pasha,’ she said.
‘He’s amazing, just wonderful and I’m so grateful for him being so patient and working so hard with me.’
The other pair who are not getting on so well are Ed Balls and Katya Jones.
Their disastrous American Smooth last weekend — which ended with Balls nearly dropping his Russian-born partner in the most ungainly lift ever seen in the show’s 12-year history — seems to have only made him more popular with viewers.
But sources insist that super-ambitious Jones is struggling with Balls. She is baffled by his constant jokes in rehearsal and finds his lack of physical fitness frustrating.
This is her first Strictly and being teamed with the joke contestant is evidently a learning curve. Katya said: ‘When he’s tired I have to make him his cup of tea. Then he gets too dizzy from all the spins, starts feeling sick and has to lie down.’
SICK NOTE STRICTLY
Singer Anastacia, 48, ripped her mastectomy scar in the first week of training, and declined to take part in that week’s dance-off.
And while she seems to have made a good recovery, her dance partner Brendan Cole was absent last weekend because of a chest infection.
His place was taken by fellow professional dancer Gorka Marquez, whose partner Tameka was voted off in week two.
Meanwhile Laura Whitmore also missed last weekend due to an ankle injury. She will be back for tonight’s performance. ‘It will be painful, but it’s not going to do any damage,’ she said.
Greg Rutherford has also injured his hand after punching a wall in frustration during rehearsals for his salsa.
The BBC has denied talk of a flu or cold virus sweeping through the contestants and professionals, but there seem to have been more injuries than in previous years.
Insiders say this is because more contestants are putting in longer hours training than in any other series — up to eight a day — and are just getting tired as a result. Four hours is the minimum required daily amount.
I CAN’T GO ON — PART ONE!
Excitable judge Bruno Tonioli, 60, stormed off and declared he was quitting when an injured Anastacia refused to participate in the dance-off.
It is said that he demanded to be taken home, feeling that Anastacia should forfeit her place rather than send home the contestant with the fewest votes.
However, he agreed to come back and filmed the end of the show. A source said: ‘Bruno gets very tired because he is filming Strictly and Dancing With The Stars in America. He didn’t appreciate feeling messed around, as he knew he had to be on a plane the next day.’
I CAN’T GO ON — PART TWO!
Celebrity quitters are not unheard of — in previous years Kelly Brook left the show when her father died, Olympian Jade Johnson stood down due to a knee injury, and John Sergeant quit because he was afraid he might win and deprive a good dancer of the glitterball trophy. But this year’s quitter is perhaps the most mysterious yet.
Singer Will Young, 37, who walked out two weeks ago, cryptically cited ‘personal reasons’.
His friends said that the former Pop Idol star, who has a history of depression and anxiety, was battling mental health issues. ‘He struggled much more than he thought he would,’ said a friend.
However, those in the camp of his steely dance partner Karen Clifton accused him of ‘flouncing’ off, not training hard enough and letting her down.
Karen, 34, is also said to have been a leading member of the faction who ‘tutted’ over Anastacia not performing in the dance-off.
CALAMITY CHEERLEADERS
Poor Sandra Redknapp, 69, suffered an injured ankle after being accidentally run over by her football manager husband Harry last week. She is apparently still planning to visit the Strictly Ballroom this week to cheer on daughter-in-law Louise.
Also in the audience most weeks is Tess Daly’s husband Vernon Kay. In previous years, Vernon has not made a habit of regularly gracing the show.
But following the embarrassing texting scandal this April — when he was revealed to be sending racy messages to a glamour model, six years after first being caught doing the same thing — Vernon has been positively glued to his wife’s side.
IS THERE LIFE AFTER LEN?
Head judge Len Goodman, 72, has announced that this will be his last series as a Strictly Judge. From next year he will only be doing the U.S. version — Dancing With The Stars — on a £3.3 million deal.
The question of who will replace him is hanging over this series.
It is said that there is a shortlist of eight and that candidates will have to go through six rounds of auditions before being offered the job, including a judging panel mock-up.
One thing seems certain, though. The new face won’t be Arlene Phillips, who was a member of the judging panel until 2009. A BBC source says: ‘There is too much water under the bridge and she will not be asked.’
Dancers Anton du Beke and Brendan Cole have both been campaigning to get the job.
The problem is that promoting either of them could upset the other professionals. And Anton, who was once thought of as a front-runner, has been tried out on other entertainment shows without any great success.
Meanwhile, Italian Strictly judge Carolyn Smith is thought to have been on a shortlist, but the BBC was not happy about her talking about the process. Another possibility is Briton Gary Edwards, 50, a ballroom judge who currently appears in the Access All Areas spin-off of Dancing With the Stars in the U.S.
He is friends with both Bruno and Len.
My source says: ‘It looks as if it will be someone from outside Strictly.’
FAVOURITISM . . . AND RACISM?
There was a row over claims of racism when black DJ Melvin Odoom was the first celebrity to leave the series — followed by black EastEnders actress Tameka Empson. Now there are mutterings about favouritism over what seems like prejudice against the bookies’ favourite Danny Mac.
The former Hollyoaks star, 28, has been a superlative performer, but has yet to receive a single perfect ten. ‘The feeling is that Danny is miles ahead of the pack but being marked down,’ says a source.
Danny, like judge and former ballerina Darcey Bussell, 47, attended the Arts Educational School in London. He has also appeared in musicals including Wicked in the West End, but claims never to have done ballroom or Latin dancing previously.
28-10-2016, 11:30 PM
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it doesn't affect me and my likes and dislikes of contestants and their dancing.
Strictly Bitchy: Ed, Louise & Laura disliked amongst contestants
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