James Jordan has defended himself after footage of himself training with Georgina Bouzova resurfaced amid the currently Strictly gross misconduct scandal.
The TV personality, who starred on the show as a dancing pro until 2013, can be seen being a tough teacher to Georgina in the clip, telling the camera: "Unless she's actually physically broken a rib, I don't care… Kill you, stand on your left leg. Unless her feet are bleeding, I don't care. If they're sore, dance through it."
Taking to Instagram to explain his perspective on the footage, he said: "For those of you who have seen the edited BBC VT of me training with Georgina 18 years ago - yes I had hair once! But I just wanted to reassure you that footage was shot and edited together by the BBC team for transmission on It Takes Two 18 years ago in specific ways for the purposes of ENTERTAINMENT.
"Many of the clips were not related to Georgina at all (they are not allowed to do that these days as it misrepresents what actually happened) but were included for the purpose of exaggeration. The BBC thought it would be fun to put this VT together in the way they did. You can see Georgina laughing about it in the studio and in the clips... And I have never received ANY complaints from any of my celebrity dance partners in the 8 years I was on the show."
He continued "Obviously if I had genuinely upset anyone, that footage would NEVER have been allowed to be used in that way by the BBC themselves. The Producers loved to paint me as the bad guy and I played along...always a perfectionist ...but I would never have deliberately upset anyone and pride myself on good friendships with my celebrity dance partners."
He concluded: "I strongly suggest that nobody attempts to link this edited BBC VT with the current alleged reports of abusive behaviour taking place behind the scenes by other Strictly professionals. There is no comparison to be drawn between those awful allegations and the highly produced and exaggerated VT from the BBC archives that is featuring on social media. To be clear, I deplore bullying or abusiveness in the workplace. Big love to all of you. James."
James was supported by a former Strictly star Dani Harmer, who commented on the post writing: "You weren’t even my partner and always went out of your way to help me when Vincent wasn’t around! Top bloke."
The dad-of-one recently supported Amanda Abbington after Giovanni Pernice was removed from the dancing pro line-up for 2024 following claims of unacceptable behaviour in the training room. Speaking on This Morning, he said: "The only thing I will say is there is no smoke without fire and I have always protected the professional dancers and we don't know the ins and outs of it.
"Isn't the proof in the pudding a little bit. He is not back on the show so clearly, whether he has decided not to go back or whether the BBC have not asked him back. There is something going on and we have not seen the footage."