Jay McGuiness has said he thinks Strictly Come Dancing bosses could miss some "big personalities" if they ban reality TV stars from competing in the show, following reports that stars from popular series like Made in Chelsea, TOWIE and Ex on the Beach will not be allowed to join the line-up. The Wanted singer, who won the show in 2015, opened up about the changes in an interview with HELLO! while supporting World Meat Free Week, which runs from 11-17 June.
"They'll miss a huge pool of people if they do that, because I feel like a huge portion of television is reality now and magazines are filled with those people so they might miss some big personalities," Jay said.
Jay McGuiness won Strictly Come Dancing in 2015
The 27-year-old also revealed he was "sad" to hear of Brendan Cole's exit from the show earlier this year after 15 series as a professional dancer. Describing Brendan as a "great Strictly character", Jay admitted he'd love to speak to him and find out what happened.
STORY: Strictly Come Dancing has banned reality TV stars from participating
"I feel kind of sad because he is a great Strictly character and I think he was a charismatic dancer. I don't know the ins and outs of it. I always think with Strictly you never know the ins and outs of it," Jay said. "Like I remember reading things through the weeks when I was on and thinking, 'wait a minute, I know for a fact that's what didn't happen to whoever was in week four,' and I'd just think, 'wait a minute, it's all like a weird, warped version of what happened'. So I'd be really interested to sit and ask him what he feels about it, but honestly I have no idea. I hope that he's going on to something that really satisfies him."
The Wanted singer opened up about Brendan Cole's exit from the show
Jay was speaking to HELLO! as part of his work supporting the World Meat Free Week campaign, which encourages members of the public to swap one meal a week for a meat-free alternative. The former boy band star, who has been vegetarian since he was a child, encouraged people to give it a try as it could make a huge impact to both animals and the environment.
MORE: The benefits of going meat-free and top tips for getting started
"If you switch one meal you already make a huge difference to meat consumption, so less animals suffering, but also the environment is impacted hugely by the amount of meat we produce. If you already recycle and you reuse things it's in the same ball park as that," he said, before sharing some inspiration of the meat-free meals he enjoys.
"I love stuff that I've been eating since I was a kid, so I love a traditional Sunday dinner, just switch out the meat for a meat substitute. Or something like spaghetti Bolognese, switch out the mince for any sort of meatless mince," Jay said. "I actually only left the country when I was 18 and started touring with The Wanted so then I started eating more different cultured food. I found that India has so many vegetarian curries, and people would eat vegetarian without even realising."