I’LL KEEP ON LEAKING
Results ‘spoiler’ vows to keep on sharing voting details as
STRICTLY has been plunged into crisis over its weekly vote-off result being leaked on the internet.
Bosses are at war with the creator of a spoilers website that regularly reveals which couple has been axed before it is shown on TV.
Strictly’s results show is pre-recorded on Saturday night and shown 24 hours later, meaning sources in the studio audience can tip off superfan Dave Thorp so he can post it online.
Producers have taken action to stop him from ruining the surprise for millions of viewers – but he has vowed to continue.
Letting rip at BBC chiefs, he said: “I’m just a Strictly fan who finds it ludicrous that in a day and age where information can be transmitted globally in the blink of an eye, the BBC would still think it is a good idea to pre-record the results show of their flagship reality TV show and broadcast it a whole day after the event.
“It is the BBC who make the spoiler possible. If the BBC don’t want the result to leak out, there is something very simple they can do to stop it – broadcast the results live.”
Dave reckons Beeb bosses try to “fool” viewers into thinking the Sunday results show is live.
He said: “The BBC goes to great lengths to try and maintain the illusion…everyone refers to the previous show as being ‘last night’, and even gets presenters to change clothes between shows.”
He added: “Their usual response to complaints is to stick two fingers in their ears and go ‘la la la la la, we’re not listening’.”
Dave’s site is the most-viewed Strictly spoiler site on the net, with up to 350,000 hits a day. He has more than 10,000 followers on social media.
He also leaks the pairings at the start of each series, as well as the result of the annual Christmas special – which leaves Strictly bosses fuming.
Dave, a photographer from Preston, Lancs, said: “It has come to their attention and they aren’t too happy about the site or the social media channels I operate.
“They even had Facebook remove a page I was running during the 2015 series. However, this was later reinstated following a strongly worded email to them and a petition signed by many visitors to this site.
“I’m not sure why the BBC aren’t happy as I personally feel that if the BBC won’t give viewers what they want in the form of live results, then sites like this are a good compromise.” Dave cashes in on the STRICTLY star Jonnie Peacock was cruelly taunted over his disability by school bullies.
The athletics hero was just five when he had his leg amputated below the knee after catching meningitis.
And he told the Daily Star Sunday how it made him the target of playground abuse.
Jonnie, 24, said: “Every single person has problems. Some disabled people come up to bigger ones. We all have dark days where you don’t want to get out of bed.
“I was bullied at school. Everyone has hard times and I had them a bit more than others. When I was younger I wanted to hide. I wanted to forget about it. You don’t want to be seen as different.” Brave Jonnie refused to let the taunts beat him and at 15 started athletics training.
He went on to win gold for Team GB at two Paralympic Games.
Jonnie added: “A lot of people are bullied at school and it’s relative to everybody. It’s about pushing past that and being positive.
“It makes you a little bit stronger. I don’t look back at school as such a bad time. I had some good friends. I think as long as you’ve got good people around you it doesn’t really success of his site by charging for adverts but insists the revenue is “quite small”. He has vowed to ignore pleas to stop leaking results, which will cause a headache for execs who are desperate to keep results secret until they air. Dave claims viewers are “entitled” to learn the results beforehand. He said: “I take information that is already in the public domain elsewhere on the internet and provide it for visitors to this site in such a way that it is quick and easy to find. “This site doesn’t really do anything different from the other sites providing spoilers for series such as Game of Thrones. “People read spoilers for TV series all the time but that doesn’t affect how many people watch them, nor does it affect the enjoyment of the series for people who have sought out and viewed spoilers.” matter what one individual thought.”
Jonnie is the first disabled contestant to compete on Strictly in its 15 years on screen. He is hoping his routines will help to break down prejudice surrounding amputees.
Jonnie said: “I want to try to change a bit of the stigma around disability. I want to change people’s assumptions of the ability of what you can and cannot do.
“When I had the medical the doctor asked if I’ll be OK doing lifts during dances. I was like, ‘I’m OK in the gym with 200kg on my back’. It’s those kinds of things. People have pre-conceived ideas. It’s about not judging a book by its cover.” Jonnie and show professional Oti Mabuse are ranked at 9/1 to win the series with bookies Paddy Power. But Jonnie is nervous he’ll be a flop on the dancefloor. He said: “At the moment my target is to make it to week three. Dancing is definitely not my forte. This is more nerve-racking than any race I’ve done.
“It has been so much harder than I thought it would be. I didn’t realise how many things you have to think about when you dance.
“For every single step there are about 10 things I am doing wrong at the same time. It’s so technical and you’ve only got such a short space of time to perfect everything.
“It’s not the bottom half that I need to worry about. It’s much more about the top half and how that looks. It won’t be my leg letting me down – it will be my dancing!”
Jonnie and Oti faced the judges last night as Strictly went live for the first time but he’s more nervous about girlfriend Sally Brown seeing him perform.
He said: “She is the best person to bring me back down to earth. Anything I do, she’ll be like, ‘What the hell were you doing there?’. I think she’ll be the hardest critic to please, harder than Craig. She’ll just be silently judging.”