Fern Britton has told how Strictly Come Dancing left her in tears.
In her new book, The Older I Get, which is exclusively serialised on Mail Online, the 67-year-old does not name her Strictly partner, though she details her negative experiences on the show with him.
It can be revealed that she danced with Artem Chigvintsev in the 2012 series of Strictly.
The revelations in the series will be a fresh blow for Strictly bosses who have spent months firefighting crises, after the fallout of the Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice scandal, and could force the BBC to re-examine past series.
The former This Morning presenter, who was voted off Strictly after six weeks, writes in the book that rehearsals for the BBC flagship programme were ‘challenging’.
Fern opens up about her struggles on the show, which returned to our screens last month for its 20th anniversary series.
Fern Britton, 67, danced with Artem Chigvintsev, 42, in the 2012 series of Strictly Come Dancing
Fern opens up about her struggles on the show which returned to our screens last month for its 20th anniversary series
She added: ‘As the weeks went on, I found it increasingly hard to gather up my self-confidence.’
She felt that she would do anything to try to please her frustrated dance partner [taken from attached extract of her book]. Her time on the show even left her worrying whether she was suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
Russian professional Chigvintsev, 42, left Strictly in 2014 to join the cast of the US version of the talent show Dancing With The Stars.
After being based in the United States, he married retired wrestler Nikki Garcia, 40, in 2022. The pair have a four-year-old son.
More recently, in August this year, he was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, but the American prosecutors did not file criminal charges against him.
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He later claimed that it was his wife who was the aggressor in the domestic dispute.
Two weeks after he was arrested she filed to divorce him. Earlier this month he accused her of domestic violence.
He claims she was ‘the aggressor’ in their recent domestic violence dispute, which led to his arrest on August 29.
In images, submitted to the Superior Court of California, Artem showed marks and bloody scratches on his elbow and hands, as well as behind his ear that he alleges were inflicted upon him by Garcia.
In a statement, obtained by celebrity column Page Six, his attorney, Ilona Antonyan, claimed: ‘Mr Chigvintsev contacted law enforcement on 8/29/24 seeking protection from his wife’s persistent aggression.
‘While he was on the phone with the police, Ms Garcia-Colace made a pointed statement, saying, ‘Do you understand where this is going now, Artem? You just ruined my career, and you know it.’
Artem has since received a restraining order against Nikki, who was granted her own against him at an earlier date.
Read Fern’s full astonishing story on Mail Online.