Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke has said the show’s upcoming series will be “brilliant” despite controversy over allegations of abuse.
The 58-year-old was asked about whether the furore would overshadow the BBC dancing show’s 20th anniversary series on ITV’s Loose Women, when he said the programme “won’t feel different at all”.
It comes after an investigation was launched by the BBC following allegations made about professional dancer Giovanni Pernice by former Strictly participant Amanda Abbington, with the results yet to be made public.
Pernice, who rejects the allegations, will not appear on the new series of the BBC dancing show.
His fellow dancer Graziano Di Prima has also left the show following the furore.
Speaking about the series, Du Beke said: “It will feel magnificent, it won’t feel different at all.
“It’s going to be brilliant, you’ve got a whole new cast.
“When you turn up for the launch show on the 14th and you get your partner, and you get asked, and then you go this is fabulous, I’ve got to tell everyone, and then you get measured up for a few frocks.
“And then you meet your partner, and you go oh I’m so glad I’ve got you, random, I don’t know why they’re all brilliant.
“Then you go off and that’s it and now you don’t see anything else, it’s just focusing on the first show hour after hour, the nerves build up, but it’s so exciting.
“The whole thing is like a tsunami, it’s like a juggernaut, this thing that rolls forward, and you’ve just got to go with it, and you just run as fast as you can.
“You come out on the first show and away you go, you dance and you hope you win, by winning, you get through to next week, every week from week one, 14 people win and one person loses.”
Ahead of the new series, the BBC said it would introduce new welfare measures including a chaperone who will be present “at all times” during rehearsals.
It comes after It Takes Two host Janette Manrara told Times Radio she felt it “would not be fair” on new contestants, who are “here to have a positive experience”, if presenters were to mention the abuse claims.
The launch trailer for the latest series of Strictly aired this week, giving a first glimpse into professional dancer Amy Dowden’s return to the show, after recovering from breast cancer.
