Strictly Come Dancing’s female dancers reportedly fear they will be ousted from the BBC show as bosses are on the hunt for younger women dancers.
After rumours pro Nikita Kuzmin might not come back to the dancing contest, The Mirror reported the bosses are keen to land a younger pro amongst the girls.
It comes after this year’s runner-up Bobby Brazier, 20, who was partnered up with Aussie pro Dianne Buswell, 34, were frequently mocked and criticised over their 14-year age gap.
A source told: ‘Bosses are always keen to cast young celebs to appeal to a younger demographic.
‘But Bobby and Dianne were subject to some quite nasty trolling and that’s made them look again at the pro line-up.’
Strictly Come Dancing’s pro girls fear they will be ousted from the hit BBC show as bosses are reportedly on a hunt for younger female dancers (pictured on This Morning on Tuesday)
The Mirror reported the bosses are keen to land a younger pro amongst the girls (pro dancer Jowita Przystal pictured at the TV Choice Awards last month)
The youngest female pro of the current line-up is Jowita Przystal, who will turn 30 in September later this year.
Referring to Nikita, 26, the telly source added: ‘The thinking is now that they also need a younger female equivalent. But this has unsettled some of the female pros who are worried they’ll be ousted.’
has contacted Strictly’s reps for a comment.
On Tuesday, Dianne bravely opened up about her battle with an eating disorder that made her ‘terrified’ to dance.
The Strictly Come Dancing star revealed she became so obsessed over food and over-exercising it resulted in her becoming anaemic, passing out and left her risk of a heart attack.
Speaking to This Morning hosts Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle, Dianne confessed it became a constant worry that took over her life.
She said: ‘You wake up in the morning, and the first thing you think of is, what am I going to eat? How many calories are going to be in that? How much do I need to exercise to burn off those calories?
‘It literally is like a planned thing in your mind that doesn’t go away. And that’s when you start to go, “Oh, this is a problem because I’m not thinking of anything else”.’
It comes after this year’s runner-up Bobby Brazier, 20, who was partnered up with Aussie pro Dianne Buswell, 34, were frequently mocked and criticised over their 14-year age gap (pictured together during Strictly live tour in Birmingham)
Referring to Nikita, 26, the telly source added: ‘The thinking is now that they also need a younger female equivalent. But this has unsettled some of the female pros who are worried they’ll be ousted’ (Nikita pictured on Strictly)
During the segment, pictures showed Dianne when she was drastically underweight due to her bulimia.
The BBC star went on to say that becoming a dancer at a young age was difficult because it put a huge about of pressure on her to keep her weight down.
She said ‘weekly weigh-ins’ at her dance company completely ‘terrified’ her as a little girl and her whole week revolved around that.
The Strictly pro explained how it became so ‘intense’ that she ‘didn’t want to dance anymore’ because she was ‘afraid’ and ‘felt physically ill’ by her body.
Dianne said: ‘I think it comes from when I was quite a young girl. And obviously growing up in the dance world, you’re taught to look a certain way and you see all these other beautiful girls dancing.
‘You kind of want to look like that and want to be winning like they are. And they look a certain way so I feel like I should look that way. So I think it was it was something from a really young age.
‘I also went on to dance and dance companies and one of those things was like a weekly weigh-in, and I can’t tell you how terrifying that was. And how much that the whole week really was terrifying when you knew that it was coming up.
‘It was quite intense and it got to a point where I didn’t want to dance anymore. I was afraid to go on stage.
Dianne is now fully recovered and has been a fan-favourite on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017.
She has decided to share her experience in the book, ‘Eating Disorders Don’t Discriminate’ with the intention to help to others facing similar struggles.
On Tuesday, Dianne bravely opened up about her battle with an eating disorder that made her ‘terrified’ to dance during an appearance on This Morning
The Strictly star revealed she became so obsessed with food and over-exercising it resulted in her becoming anaemic and left her risk of a heart attack (pictured in 2014)
Dianne first spoke out about her eating disorder during BBC One’s Freeze The Fear with Wim Hof in 2022 and admitted she chose to speak up to help others.
She said she wanted to show that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that even when things are tough you can get through it.
If you are struggling with Bulimia Nervosa or any other eating disorder call Beat Eating Disorders for free on 0808 801 0677