Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke has opened up about the recent reports that three of the professional dancers on the show are unvaccinated, saying that the show will have stringent COVID procedures in place.
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He was chatting to Kate Garraway and Ben Shepherd on Good Morning Britain when Kate asked: “Some of the pros won’t get vaccinations. BBC said we don’t talk about, we don’t force people, but it prompted concerns from some of the partners about being exposed. Do you know about that, what’s going on there?”
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Anton explained: “In all seriousness I don’t know anything about that because I’m not one of the pros anymore. If it’s like last year then everyone is tested every week anyway, everyone is bubbling and everyone is keeping distance and wearing face masks in the studio.
“Everything is geared up like we’re still in the grip of the thing. Because it’s a live show and we don’t want any nasty incidences, it’s being treated like we’re still in the grip of the pandemic so it’s all being taken very seriously.”
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Ben added: “The last thing we want is what happened to Katya and Nicola when you can’t be there because you are tested positive.” Anton agreed, and added that the major concern was a COVID breakout, which would cancel the show.
He said: “If you get one of those, you can survive, but if you get COVID that spreads through the group, that’s the end of the show… they’re all taking it very seriously.”
There have been reports about the new series regarding vaccinations
Meanwhile, the BBC released a statement about the vaccination reports on Thursday evening, which read: “A lot has been written about vaccinations and Strictly in recent days. The BBC has never commented nor confirmed the vaccination status of anyone on the show. It's not our place to.
“It is not the case that concerns have been raised with the BBC or the Strictly production team from dancers or celebrities about vaccination, or that they have threatened to quit. We have in place strict procedures to protect those on the show and the widow production. Among the many measures in place on Strictly, the dancers are tested regularly to be in close contact with their partners. The cast, crew and everyone working on Strictly are focused on this weekend's first live show and delivering another brilliant series."
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