Strictly pressure is higher than ever, says former judge Arlene Phillips
Watch Strictly pressure is higher than ever, says former judge Arlene Phillips
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Arlene Phillips has spoken out on the Strictly Come Dancing allegations for the first time.
The 81-year-old dancing expert - who was a judge on the show between 2004 and 2008 – appeared on Good Morning Britain for a TV interview on Monday in which she addressed the scandal that has been engulfing the show that made her famous.
It all started when Amanda Abbington accused her dance partner Giovanni Pernice of bullying behaviour. The dancer rejected her claims and has exited the show. BBC are investigating. Ahead of the 2024 series, Strictly bosses sacked Graziano Di Prima over his alleged conduct towards his former celebrity partner Zara McDermott.
The BBC show is back in the news this week as the 2024 Strictly line-up has been announced. As a judge on the show at the very beginning of the show, Phillips has now shared her view on what has been going on behind the scenes. "Now the pressure is another level," she said.
What, how and why?
Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway, who danced on the show with Anton Du Beke while Phillips was a judge, got the conversation going on the Strictly crisis. She said: "My memory of rehearsals – I had Anton Du Beke – there was always someone there. The chaperone doesn't make sense to me. There was always someone filming, someone present at rehearsals."
Phillips said the stakes are higher than ever and the pressure is on "another level". She said: "When you came to show in early years, the expectation wasn’t as high. The actual process it was hard, it was tough, and dancing is tough, you know, we go through a lot with our bodies but it’s become such a big thing now. People have had capitulated literally to enormous fame and wealth."
Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley interjected to say: "Including professionals." Phillips agreed saying "including the professionals" too. "It's become a platform for them," he said to which the former judge said "absolutely".
Phillips continued: "So the pressure now is further, as you say, for the professional is own personal fame."
Madeley said: "That's a disjoint isn't it between what the celebrities are going in for - to learn to dance, have a bit of fun. For the professionals, it's everything."
The former Strictly judge continued: "They all have their own shows now. Nothing like that happened. It didn’t have the stake as high. The pressure was there - everybody felt it - you (Garraway) felt it in your training. Wanting to find a way to become a dancer. Now the pressure is another level."
Strictly's success
Now 20 years on from it's inception, former judge Phillips said no one knew it was going to be a success except the late host Bruce Forsyth. "When I look back, we started off with four million viewers," she said. "And we finished with almost nine million in eight weeks."
She added: "Not from day one, none of us thought it would be a success. It was small, I can actually say intimate. No one other than Bruce was confident. You can see how nervous everyone was. We were reacting if we were just in the studio, as opposed to how it grew, reacting for the millions we hadn't had enough rehearsals."
She added: "We were all so nervous. You can see it. Look at it now!"
Phillips said the moment they all knew it was going to be a hit was seeing serious newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky dance with her professional dancer Brendan Cole in the fourth week. "She was a serious newsreader, she was persuaded to do the show," she said. "Gradually you saw Brendan and Natasha every week improving."
The judge fondly remembered them in hold, "the power of that performance". She said: "We started to switch." And that was the moment everyone knew, "there is something here".
