James Jordan Criticizes Strictly Celebrities Over Complaints Following Statement on Resurfaced Footage
James Jordan, former Strictly Come Dancing professional, has hit out at the show and taken swipes at celebrities complaining about their experiences. This comes after an old video resurfaced showing him in rehearsals, which has sparked a wave of support for him.
The footage, which depicted Jordan making critical comments about his dance partner, was claimed by him to have been edited for “entertainment purposes.” Despite the controversy, fans rallied behind him, criticizing Strictly and defending Jordan.
One fan commented, “Everything is blown out of proportion. If the celebrities can’t take the hard regime, they shouldn’t be doing it.” Jordan, 46, responded with a red heart emoji.
Another supporter wrote, “The entire thing is becoming a farce. Most of us don’t believe the rubbish being spouted,” while another added, “I feel like something is going on for all these instances to be coming out now!” A fourth fan said, “Strictly is going down the plug. I’m not watching anymore.” Jordan replied to each with heart emojis, reported the Scottish Sun.
Amid the current probe into bullying allegations on Strictly Come Dancing, a third professional dancer has been identified as a “person of interest.” Jordan warned against linking him to the show’s bullying crisis, stating, “To be clear, I deplore bullying or abusiveness in the workplace.”
Insiders revealed that the name of the male dancer, no longer part of the BBC show, had been handed to lawyer Carter-Ruck. The controversy follows allegations that Graziano Di Prima, 30, was dismissed for kicking his celebrity partner Zara McDermott, and Giovanni Pernice, 33, quit earlier this year after Amanda Abbington claimed her time with him left her with post-traumatic stress disorder.
In his statement, James Jordan explained, “The footage was shot and edited together by the BBC team for transmission on It Takes Two 18 years ago in specific ways for the purposes of ENTERTAINMENT. Many of the clips were not related to Georgina at all but were included for the purpose of exaggeration.”
Jordan continued, “The BBC thought it would be fun to put this VT together in the way they did. You can see Georgina laughing about it in the studio and in the clips… And I have never received ANY complaints from any of my celebrity dance partners in the 8 years I was on the show.”
He emphasized, “Obviously if I had genuinely upset anyone, that footage would NEVER have been allowed to be used in that way by the BBC themselves. The Producers loved to paint me as the bad guy and I played along…always a perfectionist …but I would never have deliberately upset anyone and pride myself on good friendships with my celebrity dance partners.”
Jordan concluded by stressing, “I strongly suggest that nobody attempts to link this edited BBC VT with the current alleged reports of abusive behaviour taking place behind the scenes by other Strictly professionals. There is no comparison to be drawn between those awful allegations and the highly produced and exaggerated VT from the BBC archives that is featuring on social media.”