Strictly Come Dancing contestant Helen George has claimed that the show was “somewhat controlled” as she spoke about the fixing allegations that have blighted this series.
Helen, who plays Trixie Franklin in Call The Midwife, told The Sun she was “wasn’t privy” to details, but said that producers did have to contrive some drama, as would be expected for Strictly’s prime-time slot.
Helen and her Strictly dance partner Aljaz (Guy Levy/BBC)
“It is a dance show and a television show so there has to be drama and it has to be somewhat controlled for it to fit the format.
“I don’t know what happened and I wasn’t privy to it,” she said when asked about claims of fixing and reshooting crowd shots.
Helen and partner Aljaz Skorjanec left the show in the quarter-final stage when she lost out in the dance-off to former Coronation Street actress Georgia May Foote.
Helen and Aljaz were voted out of the contest in the quarter-finals (Guy Levy/BBC)
The 31-year-old said she was disappointed to exit the dancing competition.
“I would have loved to have stayed of course and I feel like I had a couple of lovely dances in me still, but at the same point it is what happened and there is no point in begrudging it or getting too upset about it.
“It is TV and it is a show and I enjoyed my time on it. I was quite tired as well. It was quite nice to go home and sit on the sofa for a couple of days.”
She said triumphant contestant Jay McGuiness was a “worthy winner” and a “very modest guy”.
Strictly winners Jay and Aliona Vilani (Guy Levy/BBC)
This series has suffered claims by professional dance Ola Jordan that “people are over-marked and under-marked” to keep the right contestants in the competition.
Strictly contestant Jamelia then claimed that sections of audience reaction had been re-recorded when she was up against Peter Andre in the dance-off.
She said that the audience had been told to stand up to make it look like he got a standing ovation, but the BBC denied this and said they were just taking continuity shot while props were moved off the dance floor.
Jamelia and dance partner Tristan MacManus (Guy Levy/BBC)
Judge Len Goodman said in 11 years on the show, no one had ever told him what to say.
“They never interfere with our integrity, they never tell us what to say, we are not scripted to say this or that,” he said on Strictly's spin-off show, It Takes Two.
