OUTSPOKEN Strictly legend Brendan Cole has accused show bosses of “controlling” the pro dancers – just weeks on from his cruel Amy Dowden jibe.
, who was axed from the BBC show in 2018, has taken aim at bosses while discussing why some of the pros aren’t landing celebrity partners year after year.
explained that when he was on the show, there wasn’t pros left behind the scenes, waiting to take their places.
He claims this makes dancers “uncertain” about their position on the show and it could be a used as a way to “control” them.
During this series, four of the pro dancers – Aleksandra Isaeva, Cristian Priori and Lethabo Monametsi – are partnerless.
“Compared to when I was on the show, they now have many more professional dancers in the background, in the big group numbers, propping up the show,” claimed Brendan.
“What that does to the professionals who do have partners is give them uncertainty, and when you’re uncertain about your position, you make different decisions about how you react to things and what’s being asked of you.
“In my day, my job was secure. Every year I came back and I had a partner, and if they’d told me, ‘By the way, we’re not sure if you’ll have a partner next year, we’ll let you know,’ I would have told them ‘thank you very much, I won’t be returning.'”
He continued: “It’s not like that anymore. Now they have a pool of dancers they can pluck from obscurity, so they can keep things as they want them without any mutiny.
“For me, it could be construed as a way of control. But I’m not there and I don’t know the reasons. I can only speculate.”
A Strictly insider said: “It’s been almost a decade since Brendan was last on Strictly. Partnerships for a series are selected following the first day of the celebrity cast’s training, when the Pros and celebs all meet and dance together for the first time.
“This means it’s not possible to know which Pros will get partners in any given series, because the Pros sign up for a series months in advance.
“It wouldn’t be fair to tell a Pro that they were going to get a partner only for there not to be a partner for them when the series begins – therefore no guarantees are made in advance.”
The BBC declined to comment when approached by The Sun for a comment.
This comes after Brendan brutally claimed that ”, despite returning to the show after undergoing treatment for grade three aggressive .
He made the dig after Amy was for the second year in a row, this time with her partner Chris Appleton.
, who joined the cast from its launch in 2004 until 2017, said: “To be a pro on Strictly is a big job and one has to be up to the challenge.
“Amy has not been up to the challenge, in my opinion.
“I don’t think Amy’s been doing a very good job for the last few years and she’s been out first for the last few years. One can do the maths on that.
“She’s standing out there counting him in. She’s counting every step for him.
“It’s very obvious that the job has not been done, and I don’t think people are enjoying it.”
