Former Strictly professional dancer Camilla Sacre-Dallerup has suggested that the show should revert back to its eight-week run amid growing pressure on the celebrity contestants to succeed in the competition.
The ballroom dancer, who won the series in 2008 Holby City actor Tom Chambers, weighed in on the programme's recent misconduct scandals and the axing of pro dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima during an appearance on ITV's Lorraine on Friday.
When discussing whether celebrities have come under more pressure to progress in the competition in recent years, Camilla said: "I think the audience's expectations have built through the years. As [one series] leaves on such a high, the next season needs to almost match that and the pressure builds and builds and builds.
"I also did notice quite a big difference when the show shifted from being eight weeks to 12 and 14 weeks. For me, that was a concern already," continued the former dancer, suggesting that the show was less competitive when it ended after eight weeks.
© ITV"I enjoyed it when it was eight weeks. You were in, you were doing the hard work and then you were out. So I think like anything when it builds and builds, expectation builds and that's within the situation and from the audience as well, they expect a fantastic show every week from the beginning," explained the star.
Camilla also said she felt "incredibly shocked and surprised" by the recent scandals surrounding the show.
When asked how she approached her training programme during her stint as a pro dancer, Camilla said it was important to manage celebrities' expectations.
"What became really important to me right from season two was to always sit down and have a big conversation with my celebrity partner to understand what they want from the journey," she said. "Was it a little bit of fun or to change their career altogether? Did they want to make the semi-final or the final? Or they didn't care perhaps, they just wanted to enjoy because the training schedule was going to look quite different if they were having fun or wanted to make the final. You had to manage everyone's expectations."
She added: "It's all about managing expectations I think it's really important that people know what they are walking into."
Camilla's appearance comes amid fans' fears that the show will be cancelled following the recent controversies.
BBC director general Tim Davie confirmed that the next season will go ahead but wants to ensure "fun and entertainment prevails" over competitiveness.
"Alongside the fun and entertainment there will be a degree of competitiveness, hard work, and will to do well; that's part of what makes this show. But there are limits and the line should never be crossed," he said at the launch of the BBC's annual report.
Every Strictly Come Dancing winner so far
- 2004: Natisha Kaplinsky (partner Brendan Cole)
- 2004: Jill Halfpenny (partner Darren Bennett)
- 2005: Darren Gough (partner Lilia Kopylova)
- 2006: Mark Ramprakash (partner Karen Hardy)
- 2007: Alesha Dixon (partner Matthew Cutler)
- 2008: Tom Chambers (partner Camilla Dallerup)
- 2009: Chris Hollins (partner Ola Jordan)
- 2010: Kara Tointon (partner Artem Chigvintsev)
- 2011: Harry Judd (partner Aliona Vilani)
- 2012: Louis Smith (partner Flavia Cacace)
- 2013: Abbey Clancy (partner Aljaž Škorjanec)
- 2014: Caroline Flack (partner Pasha Kovalev)
- 2015: Jay McGuiness (partner Aliona Vilani)
- 2016: Ore Oduba (partner Joanne Clifton)
- 2017: Joe McFadden (partner Katya Jones)
- 2018: Stacey Dooley (partner Kevin Clifton)
- 2019: Kelvin Fletcher (partner Oti Mabuse)
- 2020: Bill Bailey (partner Oti Mabuse)
- 2021: Rose Ayling-Ellis (partner Giovanni Pernice)
- 2022: Hamza Yassin (partner Jowita Przystał)
- 2023: Ellie Leach (partner Vito Coppola)
