On Thursday’s Lorraine’s show, ITV audiences saw the presenter chat with Strictly Come Dancing’s Pete Wicks and his dance partner Jowita Przysta. In spite of consistently finding himself at the bottom of the leaderboard in past weeks, he has managed to steer clear of the dreaded dance-off.
However, Pete disclosed on his Staying Relevant podcast that he had been subjected to severe viewer backlash, including receiving death threats. Lorraine expressed her shock and disgust as she spoke to Pete, reeling: “For goodness sake, Pete, it’s ridiculous!”
In response, Pete told Lorraine: “It’s mad because it’s a light entertainment show. Some people take it very, very seriously, but I’m used to it. I’ve had it for years doing all sorts of different television.”
When Lorraine interrupted to affirm that such extreme negative reactions were unacceptable even for a public figure, and then turned to Jowita asking about her feelings on the matter, she replied, “I bet you get angry on his behalf?”
Agreeing, the Strictly professional said: “Yeah because all we want to do is have fun and give people something on a Saturday night. We want to entertain people. Dancing is the thing, you might like it or not it’s fine.”
She continued, stressing the need for empathy: “Everyone has their own opinion and it’s absolutely fine but I think we need to be more kind to each other, the world is already quite a difficult place to be.”
Over the weekend, Pete and Jowita were informed they’d be hitting the dance floor once more for Musicals Week. Despite his initial doubts about his longevity in the competition, Pete admitted: “I thought I’d go week one and every week I say to her, ‘this is going to be the last week, this will be the last week’. We’re now, what 11 weeks in?”
Regrettably, Sunday night saw viewers bid farewell to one star as Montell Douglas and Jamie Borthwick found themselves in the dance-off. After a second performance of their routines for the judges, it was time to learn their fate, reports the Mirror.
Ultimately, it was a unanimous decision as each judge chose to save Montell, sending Jamie packing. However, that wasn’t Montell’s first brush with elimination, as the Olympian has found herself in the dance-off multiple times.
Speaking about dancing to stay in the competition on Loose Women this week, Johannes Radede made a candid confession. He revealed: “I’m going to be honest, I have been a blubbering mess for the past three dance-offs ,and this woman here has been like, ‘It’s not over!”
When questioned if he feels he’s let Montell down as her trainer, he conceded that was ‘true’ as he continued: “You’ve let her down, yeah. This is not my first rodeo I’ve never pushed somebody like I’ve pushed Montell. But it’s not that, it’s how she’s pushed me as a trainer.”
Johannes, paying tribute to his celebrity partner Montell, believes he’s dancing with a champion. Montell, who found herself in the dance-off once again.
She admitted: “It never gets easier. I don’t think it’s easier but I definitely think mindset for sure comes in straight away. He (Johannes) always jokes that I’m coaching him on the dance-off! I’m like, ‘We’ve got this’.”
Lorraine continues weekdays on ITV from 9am.