STRICTLY Come Dancing’s latest kiss scandal has rocked the glitzy BBC show behind the scenes – though one former show star isn’t surprised.
We exclusively revealed last night how a 12-second clip is circulating showing a female show pro sitting on the lap of, and kissing, a married family man contestant.
The male celebrity took part in a recent past series and The Sun has decided not to reveal the identity of either party.
While ex-pro James Jordan, 47, insists he isn’t aware of who is involved, he says it’s happened before and it will happen again, though still condemned the infidelity.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun today on behalf of Freebets.com, he says: “It’s not the first time it’s happened, and it won’t be the last. When people are on Strictly, they’re put in a situation where they’re training with people for maybe eight, 10 hours a day, spending sometimes months with each other.
“So if anything’s going to happen, it’s more likely to happen on a show like that because of the intensity, the fact that you’re so close to each other and everything.
“It doesn’t make it right, does it? It can obviously damage people’s lives and upset a lot of people, but it doesn’t necessarily come as a shock to me. But I am curious, very curious now who it is.”
The video was taken backstage at Elstree studios, where Strictly is filmed, by a male member of production who saw the pair kissing in a dressing room.
A source said: “This incident has been the talk of Strictly in very need-to-know for the past couple of years.
“The video itself shows the famous married family man passionately kissing his female dance pro. She is sitting on his knee, and he has his hand on her back before leaning in for a kiss.
“The kiss only lasts a few seconds but it would more than likely end his marriage and destroy his carefully cultivated family man image.
There was speculation when outgoing hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman announced their surprise exits last month that they were pre-empting another show scandal, following on from Giovanni Pernice‘s controversial rehearsals with Amanda Abbington, Graziano di Prima kicking Zara McDermott, and two unnamed stars allegedly using cocaine.
But James doesn’t believe the latest secret snog would have had any bearing on their decision.
He says: “With regards to Tess and Claudia, I don’t think that would be a big enough reason for them to decide to leave the show. I think it would need to be a much bigger story or scandal than that, because it’s happened from the first series, hasn’t it?
“The strictly curse, as everyone calls it, happened from series one, and it’s happened pretty much most years throughout the show’s history.”
When it comes to who should replace Tess and Claudia, James was among the first to tip Bradley Walsh for the gig.
Since then, it’s come to light that Bradley and The One Show‘s Alex Jones, who danced with James in 2011, are leading the charge for the roles.
It’s a pairing he can get on board with and thinks would succeed, as long as the chemistry between them is there.
“The thing is that whoever takes over the helm from Tess and Claudia, they’ve got big shoes to fill, no matter how big a presenter they are.
“I love watching Bradley. I think he’s funny, charismatic. I think he would be great, and hence why he was the name that I said. I think he would be fantastic.
“Alex Jones, I danced with her on the show, on Strictly. She’s adorable.
“She’s obviously been on The One Show for a long time. She knows the show. She knows how it works. So I think it’s a great couple of names in the mix.”
James was speaking exclusively with Freebets.com, the home of new casino sites, where he works as the entertainment betting expert.
