Amanda Holden and David Walliams slam Strictly Come Dancing for its lack of same-sex couples
Holden with her fellow BGT judges: David Walliams, Simon Cowell, and Alesha Dixon (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)
Amanda Holden and David Walliams called for Strictly Come Dancing to feature same-sex couples after watching two male dancers perform at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions.
After watching Spanish dancers David de Menes and Javier Padilla perform the Salsa on stage, the two judges said that the BBC should be inspired to go against the grain.
“Strictly should do it,” Holden said. “I love the moves and how you toss each other around on stage.”
Walliams added that two male dancers should not be scoffed at.
“It was beautiful and shows there’s nothing funny about two men dancing together. I don’t know why the BBC doesn’t have two men dancing together because it’s fantastic,” he said.
The row on whether same-sex couples should be included in the popular dance show has been going on for some time.
Last September the BBC confirmed that they have no plans to introduce same sex partners on the show.
A spokesperson from the BBC said: “Strictly has chosen the traditional format of mixed-sex couples and at the moment we have no plans to introduce same-sex couples in the competition.”
Susan Calman (Getty)
Out lesbian comedian Susan Calman was criticised after agreeing to dance with a man when appearing in the most recent series.
She was offended by the row and said: “I think politically, there’s nothing more powerful than having an openly gay woman on the biggest show on television, whose wife’s on the front row, doing what she wants to do.”
“For the gay community to criticise me and try to get me what they want to do is, I think, as difficult as suggesting the straight community are trying to.”
“No one is holding me hostage in this room, making me wear a dress and dance with a man. I want to learn how to dance,” Calman added.
When appearing on ITV’s Lorraine last year, Judge Robert Rinder (Who appeared on the 2016 series of Strictly) made his opinion very clear that including same-sex couples wouldn’t going to benefit anyone.
Judge Rinder on Lorraine (YouTube/Lorraine)
“First of all it’s a sport,” he said
“Nobody was asking me to get married to my partner, or to engage in any sort of… geography with her. They wanted me to dance with her!”
He continued: “I don’t think it’s going to make any difference to the life of any young person – and there are a lot of young people that find it very difficult to come out in the LGBTQI community – if she dances with an almost straight woman.”
“But there are amazing charities that do need our assistance, whether she dances with a man or not is going to make no difference to anybody,” he added.
However, others have argued that it is important to include same-sex dancing partners to challenge the notion of tradition.
Fans of the show have been incredibly vocal about their desire for a change in the format as the show enters its fourteenth year on screen.
One person explained: “It’s utterly backwards. What’s gonna happen if two men or two women dance together?”
“Strictly needs to have same-sex/gender couples dancing. So many dances this series, not a single same-sex couple dance,” another added.
