Strictly Come Dancing - Don Warrington and Lilia Kopylova are voted off (WENN)

Are Strictly Come Dancing viewers racist?

Monday, 27 October 2008

A row has broken out at the BBC over whether viewers of hit BBC ballroom dancing show Strictly Come Dancing are being racist after the only two black celebrity dancers left in the competition received the fewest public votes last week.

The BBC website received a flood of complaints when Rising Damp star Don Warrington and M People singer Heather Small came bottom in the public vote despite them getting more points than their white rivals from the show's in-house judges earlier in the evening.

During the Saturday night show, Strictly's four judges - Arlene Phillips, Craig Revel Horwood, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli - awarded Don 23 points and Heather 21, whereas white competitors John Sergeant, Andrew Castle and Mark Foster were only awarded 17, 16 and 16 respectively.

But it's the public vote that determines which two celebrities must perform in a nail-biting dance-off for receiving the fewest phone-votes on the night.

And a BBC insider reportedly told the Daily Mail that Strictly executives were shocked by the public vote, saying: "There were a lot of people at the BBC who watched in horror on Sunday night, like viewers did.

"Having two black people in the bottom two who hadn’t even performed badly was a very bad look for us."

Don and Heather Small (WENN)

When Don Warrington was eventually given the boot from the Strictly judges, the show's official website received many accusations of racism, with one viewer commenting: "I’m really concerned the voting for Strictly is racist.

"There’s no way Don and Heather both deserved to be in the bottom two."

Black olympic sprinter John Regis shared concerned viewers' sentiments, telling the Daily Mail: "I was shocked. I thought, 'You must be kidding.'

"It’s not like sport, when it’s down to performance—other factors come into play. Strictly is a middle-class kind of show and that possibly could be the area where racism still festers.

"I feel sorry for Don. I wouldn’t go on Strictly for all the tea in China."

It's not the first time racism has been linked with the show. In 2007, black footballer John Barnes was forced to dance-off four times even though he out-scored white contestants.

John Barnes (WENN)

And in the previous year, BBC bosses introduced the dance-off to save good dancers who'd received low public votes after black DJ Spoony was given the boot after just three weeks.

That year also witnessed black Harry Potter actor Ray Fearon being evicted before white goalkeeper (and shambolic dancer) Peter Schmeichel.

This year's favourite, white ex-rugby player Austin Healey reportedly denied that voting was racist, telling the Daily Mail that it was about personalities and talent: "The British public are very diverse," he said. "You need to have a good story when you’re in this show as well."

Austin's professional partner Erin Boag added: "John Sergeant was the underdog, Andrew is in GMTV, Mark Foster—he got his chest out. It just happened to be Heather and Don in the bottom."

Black competitor's haven't all had it bad on the show though... mixed-race singer Alesha Dixon won the show last year and athlete Colin Jackson was runner-up in 2005.

Do you think Strictly viewers are racist? Have a rant in the forum.

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Image Credit: WENN