Dame Arlene Phillips has claimed that she still doesn’t have a clue why she was dropped from Strictly Come Dancing, saying that she was given ‘no warning’ over her axe.
Following the 2008 series of the BBC show, it was announced that Dame Arlene, who was 66 at the time, had been replaced by former winner and Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon on the judging panel, who was 30.
The BBC denied that the decision was made over Dame Arlene’s age, with the choreographer later launching an investigation into how her departure unfolded.
In a new interview, the now-78-year-old hit back at claims that she was rude about contestant John Sergeant when he competed on the 2008 show.
She added that she ‘never really got an answer’ over why she was replaced on the panel, recalling: ‘They said, “You’re on a one-year contract and we can let you go.” I could never say it was about my age. But I could not say exactly why I was let go because I never really had an answer.’
Speaking to The Sunday Times, the former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! participant said that the day before she found out she’d been dropped, a radio station called her up to discuss her exit and she had ‘no clue’ what they were talking about.
Furthermore, her manager Michael Summerton died shortly before the news broke, meaning she had ‘no one to deal with it’.
‘I no longer had a place on Strictly, but no agent, no one, to deal with it. It was a really awful moment. I loved Strictly,’ she stated.
‘I have no answers as to why and I wasn’t really strong enough to find the answers. You know, I didn’t have it inside me. It was so unexpected. There was no warning, no discussion. Nothing. There were never any conversations.’
Following her exit from Strictly, Dame Arlene went on to star in other dancing programmes, appearing on So You Think You Can Dance? and guest judging on Dancing On Ice a couple of months ago.
In February this year, she was made a Dame Commander, with the former dancer overcome with emotion as she received the honour from Princess Anne at Windsor Castle.
‘I’m feeling very emotional, walking into that glorious room and then speaking to the Princess Royal was just so beautiful,’ she said at the time.
‘I was really overcome with emotion,’ she said, adding she had to tell herself: ‘Please don’t cry!’
Strictly Come Dancing is due to return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer later this year.
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.
