In the aftermath of Amanda Abbington’s departure from Strictly Come Dancing, Krishnan Guru-Murthy has divulged information regarding the cast’s WhatsApp group.
The Sherlock actress, 51, announced her departure from the event earlier this week, citing’medical reasons’ for her absence from Saturday’s live broadcast.
Amanda expressed ‘deep sadness’ at the tough choice in a statement on Tuesday, praising her fellow contestants and the ‘incredible’ production staff, but left out professional partner Giovanni Pernice, 33.
While the revelation would have undoubtedly shocked those engaged in the programme and sparked several conversations, Channel 4 revelation anchor Krishnan, 53, has stated that the participants have been nothing but supportive of one another, as seen by the group chat.
He’s now added that the group is ‘very active’ and good for offering support to one another during difficult moments.
‘We come together on a Friday, but we’re all in touch during the week because we’ve got a WhatsApp group,’ he explained.
‘As soon as someone is having a bad moment, they’ll go on the group and say, “I’m having a terrible day” and everyone else will pile in with their own experiences and advice, or Angela Rippon will tell you about her cryotherapy chamber,’ he joked.
The journalist then went on to tell Bella magazine, as reported by The Mirror, that the stars also used the chat to simply ‘share information, support, jokes and gags’ to lift each other’s spirits.
He continued: ‘We genuinely care about each other – there’s a lot of care and affection. We’re all getting along really, really well.’
Despite earlier expressing anxiety that he would ‘drop dead’ while participating on Strictly owing to a variety of health issues, Krishnan claimed last week that his experience on the programme had been ‘profound’.
Krishnan, who has been coupled up with professional dancer Lauren Oakley, stated while on It Takes Two that he had now looked to have ‘discovered happiness’.
‘It’s quite easy at my age… You hit middle age and quite a lot of your life is about other people, it’s about work, it’s about your kids, and you don’t necessarily do stuff that you love,’ he said.
‘And to do something that you love suddenly releases a wave of emotion and endorphins.’
He then joked he’d turned into ‘one of those jibbering old men wrecks who suddenly get in touch with their emotions and cry all the time’.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday at 6.40pm on BBC One.
