New Strictly blow as ‘hotbed of drinking and fun’ pro tour axed after Graziano, Giovanni and Aljaz scandals

STRICTLY has been through the ringer over the past year and has emerged battered, bruised but just about intact.

And as the stars of this year’s series begin training, change is afoot.

The Professionals tour, a highlight for me of every Strictly season, has been canned and won’t happen next year.

The decision to “rest” the live show, according to its trusted and respectable PR, is simply down to an inability to line up the pro’s demanding schedules, with the promise it will return in 2026.

The Live show, with the celebrities, will still go ahead as usual.

My contact, who is part of the live shows and rang me with the news about the cancellation, tells me resting the annual event is the best thing for everyone right now.

The tours, both the Live version and the Professionals event, are, they say, a hotbed of boozy nights and fun.

The pros play as hard as they work and, in light of the news stories about the show’s major players, the last thing the BBC needs is something else to tarnish the magic and sparkle of Strictly.

I’m a huge fan of the show and love sitting down on a Saturday night to watch the celebs and the pros take on challenging routines.

And I’ve been lucky enough to be in the audience in 2019 when Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse picked up the Glitterball trophy.

But the exceptionally sourced stories from my brilliant Sun On Sun colleague Hannah Hope, and my incredible boss Clemmie Moodie, about the recent scandals have made for difficult reading for us fans.

Together Hannah and Clemmie brought you the first bombshell story about Amanda Abbington’s complaint against Giovanni Pernice during last year’s series, which led to the BBC’s internal probe into the show.

Alongside this they reported on the other female celebrities who had raised concerns and first revealed how Graziano Di Prima had been sacked after kicking his celebrity partner Zara McDermott.

My tenacious colleague Felicity Cross also revealed this week the inside story behind Aljaž Škorjanec’s shock departure in 2022.

Reading their articles and talking to them about what had really been going on behind-the-scenes on Strictly has been shocking, and sad, at times.

The BBC are standing by the show and hope that they can restore Strictly to its former glory.

And no one wants this more than the fans.

Ultimately, we all just want to “Keep dancing,” and with the new measures rolled out by the BBC to stamp out bad behaviour, I truly hope that by the end of the year Strictly will emerge like a phoenix from the ashes.

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