Welcome to the end of another mad, bad and wonderfully-bonkers week in showbiz! From Strictly's suspect line-up to Pricey's big day out at court, there's been so much going on, it would be a crime not to take two mins to reflect. So join me, Daily Mirror Columnist Jessica Boulton, for Jess Saying, my witty, whimsical and oh-so wry round-up of the scandalous showbiz week..
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Strictly seems to have adopted a novel approach to diverting attention from the ongoing pro-dancer scandals. For each day this week, the under-fire show has been drip-feeding the names of this year’s contestants. And the Beeb’s finally managed to distract its haters in the most effective way possible.
.. by giving them something else to moan about.
Yes, they’ve been playing so fast and loose with the term “celebrity”, it’s like being promised a cha-cha with hunky pro Aljaz and getting a dad dance from Ed Balls instead. To recap, the line-up currently includes: a 2022 Love Islander runner-up who once dated Giovanni Pernice (Tasha Ghouri); a doctor (Dr Punam Krishan) who has appeared on Morning Live, the BBC’s lesser-talked about answer to This Morning; the 2005 winner of The X Factor (Shayne Ward); an Olympic swimmer who is not Adam Peaty (Tom Dean); and one of the last two from JLS they’ve not yet had on the show (JB Gill). I know what critics will say: The joy of the show is sharing a contestant's “journey” , no matter who they are.
So I’ll get on board – for now. But it won't .