Strictly song & dance..
Controversial trio’s return will make things ‘awkward... and then some’
STRICTLY bosses are preparing for a “tense showdown” for this weekend’s final as a trio of controversial contestants return, with one insider saying: “It’s going to be awkward.”
Danny John-Jules, Seann Walsh and Vick Hope are all set for a comeback to the BBC show for the group dance, with different clouds hanging over them.
One exec said: “They have put various noses out of joint in their own ways. It’s set to be interesting, to say the least.”
Comedian Seann, 33, will come head to head with Strictly dancer Neil Jones, whom he labelled “gay” at a stand-up gig following his drunken snog with the pro’s wife Katya.
Seann told the crowd at the Always Be Comedy night, in Kennington,
South London, on Friday night: “Before the show, the newspapers were complaining they didn’t know who I was. You know who I am now, motherf ****** . I’m the guy who kissed a gay man’s wife.”
Katya’s husband Neil was said to be “seething with rage” over the comments.
A source said: “Neil and Seann in the same room will be an interesting one. Katya, too, will be unimpressed by his comments.”
His tour, entitled, After This One I’m Going Home, is a not-so-veiled reference to the drunken night out that sparked the scandal. Meanwhile, Danny JohnJules, who left his dance partner Amy Dowden in tears after a training bust-up, will also return for the group dance. It comes after his partner Petula Langlais hit out at the Beeb in a series of tweets. She claimed the show “threw Danny under that bus” amid the fall-out from the row. She even added: “Why are you trying to destroy him?” Petula, 41, also retweeted a message of support from a woman suggesting he was targeted because of his race. Danny, 58, said of Petula’s posts: “I don’t author her tweets. She authors her own.” Vick Hope, 29, will also take part, despite suggesting the show was fixed after seeing producers talk to the judges before the dance-off.
She claimed after leaving: “We had to have a danceoff as well, it was very strange.
“So after the dance-off, there was a conflab with the producers and then they gave their decision.” She went on: “There was this stunned silence, it was a really weird atmosphere.” Unhappy BBC bosses said: “It is categorically untrue to imply prod-ucers tell the judges how to score or who to save.” Last night, insiders said the atmosphere on the set would be “awkward... and then some”. The source added: “It’s been a great series, but it’s fair to say there have been a number of issues offscreen – not least with these three. To say it’s going to be quite tense is an understatement.”