Dame Arlene Phillips wants people to accept trained dancers doing Strictly Come Dancing
Dame Arlene Phillips - a former Strictly Come Dancing judge - thinks the BBC Latin and Ballroom show needs to have people with different skillsets.
Former Strictly Come Dancing judge Dame Arlene Phillips says people need to "get over" trained dancers doing the show.
Viewers have blasted the producers of the BBC dance programme for signing the likes of 30-year-old actor Lewis Cope and 29-year-old actress Amber Davies, because they have dance experience - but not in Latin and Ballroom - and it gives them an advantage over their fellow competitors.
But Arlene, 82, thinks it is vital that Strictly Come Dancing highlights people with different skillsets.
The choreographer - who left Strictly Come Dancing in 2008 - told the new issue of Bella magazine: "It doesn't mean because you are a trained dancer, you are going to win.
"Think about Bill Bailey or Ore Oduba, or Stacey Dooley [who all won the show]. I wish people would get over it and just enjoy what they do.
"Everybody loves a winner that had to work for it, no one should ever forget that."
And Arlene cannot currently predict who is going to lift the coveted Glitterball trophy on December 20.
She said: "There are so many talented people this year. It could be anyone's win, and that's what I love."
However, during Icons Week (25.10.25), Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas, 65, made a bold final prediction to 62-year-old actress Alex Kingston.
After Alex and her 38-year-old professional dance partner, Johannes Radebe, performed their Foxtrot to Here You Come Again by Dolly Parton, 79, they got feedback from the judges, in which an impressed Shirley stated: "I think you might even reach the final, personally."
Elsewhere, Lewis finished as a runner-up with the hip-hop dance troupe Ruff Diamond on Sky One's Got to Dance in 2013.
The star is puzzled by claims that he is a "professional dancer" and is perplexed when people say his performance background gives him an advantage.
Lewis also finds it "a bit of an insult" to professional dancers such as his 36-year-old partner, Katya Jones.
Speaking to OK! magazine, Lewis said: "It's strange to hear that I'm some kind of 'professional dancer'.
"It's been so long since I danced, and I never trained professionally. I did Billy Elliot The Musical when I was 11, but I wasn't good enough to play Billy Elliot, so I played Michael and just did some tap dance.
"After that, I joined a hip-hop dance crew where I did hip-hop with a group of six lads back in Hartlepool, we did amateur competitions. Then I went on to train to be an actor, and I've only ever acted since."
He added: "This is the first time I've been inside a dance studio for 12 years. And now I'm working with people who are actually pro dancers like Katya, it feels like a bit of an insult to those guys.
"They've dedicated their lives to this, and they're incredible."
