A junior crew member on Strictly Come Dancing has spoken out about the verbal abuse he faced when working as a runner on the show. In a BBC interview, Oscar claimed the “whole culture” of the popular BBC dancing competition is “toxic.” He told the broadcaster he was often shouted at and called stupid.
Once a celebrity got so close to his face he could feel their spit. The programme has made headlines recently after a slew of controversy over the alleged treatment of contestants on the show. The focus of the scandal has largely been on celebrities and their professional dance partners.
The BBC launched an investigation after allegations were made about dancer Giovanni Pernice by former participant Amanda Abbington. Pernice rejects the allegations. TV star Zara McDermott said she was involved in incidents in the training room that she now finds “incredibly distressing” to watch back, following the news that her dance partner Graziano Di Prima has left the show.
The results of the investigation have not been released. One woman, who also only gave her first name to the broadcaster, Jane, worked as a TV package editor on the spin-off show, It Takes Two. She said the edit suite where she was stationed felt like a therapist’s room, with junior staff offloading about the abuse they had faced that day.
Jane said they experienced “verbal abuse” from some of the dancers, including “shouting, screaming and being insulted, to an extraordinary level”. The testimony o.