Strictly Come Dancing’s Shirley Ballas Dismisses So-Called ‘Curse’

She said: “Well, is it a curse? I mean, let’s be real here… we have some beautiful arrangements, look at the lady who’s just had the beautiful baby with Gorka [Gemma Atkinson], just a beautiful soul.

“I mean, there’s been some great love stories from that show, but people just always want to focus on this or that or a mistake that somebody might make.”

Shirley also insisted that romances on Strictly are no different to any other workplace romance, saying: “If you’re travelling about with people and you’re getting close to people and this and that and the other, it happens everywhere. The only reason people pick up on it on Strictly is because it’s a high-profile show. But there’s no difference to that show than there is in anywhere else in the world.”

“I’m not going to comment on somebody else’s private life, but it happens all over,” she added.

Shirley’s comments echo similar statements made by fellow judge Craig Revel-Horwood earlier this year, when he was asked for his feelings about Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton’s romance.