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Dancing On Ice skater Vanessa Bauer has praised the ITV show’s duty of care to celebrities, following the current Strictly misconduct scandal.
The professional skater, 28, revealed that in contrast to the BBC programme, their training sessions are already attended by show staff.
Speaking to The Sun she said: ‘Their training regime is different to Dancing On Ice. But yeah, training is intense.
‘All our sessions are recorded and we also have coaches on the side that are helping with spotting our lifts.
‘We have to have an added safety factor, so most of the time there are people around on the ice rink anyway.’
Dancing On Ice skater Vanessa Bauer has praised the ITV show’s duty of care to celebrities, following the current Strictly misconduct scandal
The professional skater, 28, revealed that in contrast to the BBC programme, their training sessions are already attended by show staff
It comes after Strictly Come Dancing bosses are reportedly considering hiring chaperones for stars following pro dancers Graziano Di Prima and Giovanni Pernice both being accused of misconduct.
Di Prima, 30, was axed from the show last week over reports he verbally and physically abused his celebrity partner Zara McDermott, 27, during last year’s series.
Meanwhile Pernice, 33, was suspended while a BBC probe is conducted over claims of off-camera misconduct made by Amanda Abbington, 50, and two other former celeb partners.
The BBC are said to be ‘toughening up’ their duty of care with executive Sam Bickley in charge of ensuring the welfare of participants.
A source to The Times: ‘[Sam] will be discussing the protocols and where they need to be tightened up’.
‘It’s 90 per cent a happy ship but the push to win and compete might have meant some overstepping of the mark.
Going on to say: ‘We have acted swiftly and decisively to nip that in the bud and it doesn’t take away from almost everyone else having a really lovely, enriching experience from being part of the show.’
Meanwhile Kristina Rihanoff who appeared on the dancing show from 2009 until 2015 recently revealed the reality of filming Strictly Come Dancing.
The revelation comes on the heels of Amanda Abbington’s allegations that Strictly’s Giovanni Pernice bullied her during rehearsals – something he denies
Another Strictly pro, Graziano Di Prima, 30, was axed from the show last week over reports he verbally and physically abused his celebrity partner Zara McDermott , 27, during last year’s series
Zara wrote that while much of her time on Strictly ‘was everything I could have dreamt of’ inside the training room there were ‘particular incidents which are incredibly distressing’
Former professional dancer Kristina Rihanoff revealed earlier this week that rehearsals were often ‘frustrating’ and ‘pressurised,’ but by giving celebrities chaperones it would make them feel more ‘at ease
Speaking to BBC News, the Russian dancer, 46, admitted rehearsals were often ‘frustrating’ and ‘pressurised,’ adding that celebrities should be given chaperones during rehearsals.
She said celebrities would feel more ‘at ease that there will be somebody watching and observing the situations’.
The dancer said that with the chaperones in place, potential hopefuls would now ‘be feeling a little bit more comfortable’ to sign up to the show.
The scale of the crisis is illustrated by the fact that – by this time last year – Zara, former newsreader Angela Rippon and TV presenter Angela Scanlon had already signed up for the show.
Finalist Layton Williams had also agreed to appear and Les Dennis was on the verge of doing so.
All these names had leaked into the public domain but this year no high-profile female’s name has yet been mooted.
