Race row hits Strictly Come Dancing
Monday, 27th October 2008
A high-profile race row has broken out at the BBC after the only two black celebrity dancers left in the competition received the lowest public votes last week.
The BBC website received a flood of complaints alleging that voters are being racist following the show’s only black contestants Rising Damp star Don Warrington and M People singer Heather Small being forced to sing for survival after receiving a paltry number of public votes.
They received such a low number of public votes despite being awarded more points than their white rivals from the show's in-house judges Arlene Phillips, Craig Revel Horwood, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli.
Don scored 23 points and Heather 21 form the judges a week last Saturday, whereas white competitors John Sergeant, Andrew Castle and Mark Foster scored less.
Watched in horror
A BBC insider told the Daily Mail that Strictly executives were shocked by the public vote, adding that ‘a lot of people at the BBC watched in horror on Sunday night, like viewers did’.
The insider said: "Having two black people in the bottom two who hadn’t even performed badly was a very bad look for us."
Black Olympian John Regis told the Daily Mail: "I was shocked. I thought, 'You must be kidding.'
"It’s not like sport, when it’s down to performance—other factors come into play. Strictly is a middle-class kind of show and that possibly could be the area where racism still festers.
"I feel sorry for Don. I wouldn’t go on Strictly for all the tea in China."
Mixed-race singer Alesha Dixon won the show last year and black athlete Colin Jackson was runner-up in 2005, so perhaps viewers are not total bigots.
What do you think? Leave your comments.
Read about what happened when Don was voted off...
Photo: BBC
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