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Lorraine Kelly has admitted that she is struggling to be ‘invested’ in this year’s edition of Strictly Come Dancing(Image: ITV)
Lorraine Kelly has admitted that she is struggling to be ‘invested’ in this year’s edition of Strictly Come Dancing. The TV star, 65, was at the helm of her eponymous daytime show on ITV on Monday when she was joined by her resident showbiz guru Ross King, who had just been eliminated from the celebrity dance contest over the weekend.
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In his first interview since his exit, Ross, who was the second celebrity to be voted off, thanked everyone for their support but Lorraine has taken issue with the amount of contestants this year who already have experience in dance.
This year, former Love Island winner Amber Davies, who has carved out a career in musical theatre since finding fame on the ITV2 show, was drafted in as a replacement for Dani Dyer, who suffered a in injury in rehearsals before the first live show. What’s more, Lewis Cope, who is best known for his role in Emmerdale, has been perfecting his craft since he was a child and previously won championships.
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Lorraine was chatting to Ross King just days after his elimination when she made the comments (Image: ITV)
Discussing the intense training schedule for the BBC programme, Ross said: “You’re training like an athlete, and for me, I’m just trying to get through the dance. The standard this year…” Dishing out her opinion on the matter, Lorraine told Ross: “Can I just say from my point of view I think there’s too many trained dancers in it for me.”
The former GMTV star added that she enjoys watching famous faces learn a new skill when they are on the competition and again insisted that there are ‘too many’ contestants with previous experience in the skill that they are supposed to be learning,. She added: “Because the reason I enjoy it is to watch people like you getting better, that’s what it’s about, or it should be about. There’s too many experienced people and I’m not invested.”
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But, despite this, Lorraine’s comments come just days after contestant Amber explained that rehearsals had been no easier just because of her career and in fact she had been left ‘in tears’ during practice sessions. The performer previously trained at the prestigious London drama school Urdang and used her platform to launch a career in musical theatre. She starred in the leading role of the Pretty Woman: The Musical UK tour and more recently starred in the West End production of The Great Gatsby.
Just days before she was announced as Dani’s replacement, it was revealed that she will be taking on the tough role of Elle Woods, the part originally made famous by Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 classic, in a new UK tour of Legally Blonde. She will be following in the footsteps of industry peers like Lucie Jones, Sheridan Smith and former Coronation Street star Faye Brookes with the part, but instantly faced backlash from fans of the dancing show, who took issue with her wealth of experience.
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Amber Davies is one of this year’s contestants who has experience in dance (Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Guy Levy)
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Lewis is also an experienced dancer(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Ray Burmiston)
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During an recent appearance on This Morning alongside her professional partner Nikita Kuzmin, with whom she topped the leader board last week, Amber insisted that the skills needed are two different disciplines and she has been left struggling in rehearsals.
She told hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard : “I wanna say I think the ballroom and Latin community know that they are worlds apart from musical theatre. “I do understand where the [argument] comes from because yes, I can perform. Yesterday, we were doing our American Smooth and even just walking left, right, left, right brought me to tears because it’s so much more complicated than you imagine.”
The former Dancing on Ice star then insisted that she never expected a chance like this to come along and she is going to ‘work hard’ regardless. She added: “I’ve been given this opportunity, it came so quickly, I never thought I’d experience Strictly Come Dancing, so I am going to put in the work.” Nikita, who has been on the show since 2021, Nikita insisted that Amber is the ‘best student’ he has ever had.
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Viewers at home still issued their opinion towards Amber, with one writing on X: “She’s trained in musical Theatre. She’s as close to a professional as you can get. The show has lost its way!” But others were more positive, and were pleased to see Nikita reuniting with his former dance partner Tilly Ramsay, who had been on the programme to present a cooking segment, and was ‘manifesting’ success for the couple.
They wrote: “Full circle moment on this morning with a Tilly x nikita reunion & nikita saying how Cynthia Erivo gave him & tills their first 40 & now Cynthia is back whilst nikita dancers with Amber his 5th celeb. To early to be Manifesting that ten from her already??”
But that was not the first time Amber had to defend herself against the Strictly Come Dancing fanbase. Upon the announcement, she insisted that despite her experience, she’s a novice when it comes to waltzing around a dance floor.
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Speaking on her Call To Stage podcast, she admitted: “I feel like I know they will be like, ‘She’s trained.'” Yes, I did train in musical theatre, however, I am a beginner when it comes to ballroom Latin dancing. So I feel like I will be starting from scratch. I mean, I’ll give it my all.” She pleaded: “Please vote for me. Please, I beg.”
