Alesha Dixon told: 'Support Strictly or face axe'

Alesha Dixon told: 'Support Strictly or face axe'
Alesha Dixon told: 'Support Strictly or face axe' (Image credit: PA Archive/PA Photos)

Strictly Come Dancing judge Alesha Dixon has apparently been warned by the BBC to commit to the show - or risk being sacked. Bosses are said to be furious after Alesha praised the dance show's ITV1 rival The X Factor as 'more creative' - amid claims she was being lined up to replace Cheryl Cole on the judging panel. According to reports in The Sun, one insider said of Alesha: "She is not the most important part of the Strictly judging line-up and the show's success does not depend on her." Alesha - who replaced Arlene Phillips on the panel in 2009 - told a magazine: "I think it's great on The X Factor that the judges get to mentor. "It's much more creative. We don't do that on Strictly, we just comment. I'm into anything that enables me to use my creativity." A BBC source said: "It is not on for Alesha to woo The X Factor. She is a judge on the biggest entertainment show on the BBC and should be proud of that - not making public pronouncements about its biggest rival." Alesha's manager Malcolm Blair vowed that the star was committed to Strictly. "Contrary to recent speculation, Alesha is committed to Strictly and looks forward to taking her place on the judges' panel when the show returns."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.