Strictly Come Dancing professional Katya Jones has spoken out about the recent scandals surrounding the show.
Jones’ Strictly colleagues Giovanni Pernice and Graziano di Prima have both recently exited the series, following allegations of mistreatment of previous celebrity partners.
On an upcoming episode of the Spooning with Mark Wogan podcast (via The Mirror), Jones was asked about her own training techniques when working on the popular dance show.
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“It’s not about me,” she told host Mark Wogan. “I’m (not) there to win and they’re not my tool to win the show, my celebrity.”
Comparing her to other Strictly professionals, Wogan suggested Jones had “a more simpatico approach”. However, the dancer declined to speculate on her colleagues’ training methods.
“I absolutely cannot talk on others’ behalf. I only know my rehearsal room,” she said in the episode, which will be released in full next Thursday (July 25).
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Jones, who joined Strictly in 2016, discussed how she motivates her partners in order to “encourage them to do more”. She highlighted that “all of them learned differently” and she aims to accommodate a dance partner’s own way of learning.
“By telling them, ‘That’s not good’ or ‘That’s worse, you can’t do it’. The only thing, you just want to stop, don’t you? If something doesn’t go right and you keep pressing. They just want to stop,” she explained.
“My job is to want them to come back to the rehearsal, want them to do it again [and think], ‘Oh, can’t wait for tomorrow’. That’s my job and the only way of doing it is by finding what works for them.”
di Prima’s exit was confirmed by the BBC on Saturday (July 13), and he said in a statement that he feels deep “regret” about the circumstances “that led to my departure from Strictly”.
“Respecting the BBC HR process, I understand it’s best for the show that I step away,” he added.
News of his exit led to allegations regarding di Prima’s conduct towards his 2023 celebrity partner Zara McDermott, and she subsequently made a statement in which she referred to video footage of “particular incidents” in training “which are incredibly distressing to watch”.
McDermott added that she had “wrestled with the fear of opening up”, but added that she “spoke candidly about my time on the show” with the BBC when it approached her.
A spokesperson for the former Strictly pro confirmed on Thursday (July 18) that di Prima had kicked McDermott on one occasion during training, saying: “There is never a time when kicking, or any sense of that, is right. And he knows that. He knows he’s made a mistake. He apologised at the time.”
Mark Borkowski added to BBC News that di Prima “deeply regrets” the incident and described him as being “in a very vulnerable state”.
Pernice was not on the list of professional dancers for Strictly 2024 that was announced in June. His future on the programme had been questioned following reports of an internal inquiry at the BBC regarding complaints about his behaviour during show training.
Pernice has repeatedly denied “any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour” and said he looks forward to clearing his name, adding in a statement that he is “cooperating fully with the ongoing BBC investigation”.
Following the controversies, the BBC announced changes to Strictly’s production processes earlier this week.
Measures will include the creation of two new roles, a Celebrity Welfare Producer and a Professional Dancer Welfare Producer, further training for cast and crew, and a new rule where a production team member will be present during training room rehearsals “at all times”.
Strictly Come Dancing will return later this year on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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