Shirley Ballas has cleared the air after rumours circulated that she was in a’stand-off’ with the BBC about wages.
The 62-year-old was recently revealed to return to Strictly Come Dancing for the 2023 series, joining Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, and Anton Du Beke on the judging panel.
However, there was a time when it looked as if her career on the show was in jeopardy after she opened up about the ‘out-of-control abuse’ she experienced during the 2022 season.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Monday, Shirley – who replaced the late Len Goodman as chief judge in 2017 – told co-hosts Ed Balls, 56, and Susanna Reid, 52, that allegations that she was entangled in a battle with the BBC about remuneration were ‘absolutely not accurate’.
‘First and first, I want to clarify that there was no wage dispute with the BBC. And I’d want to emphasise… We’re in a crisis, a living crisis, where finances in many houses are quite challenging,’ she explained.
The dancing teacher revealed that she recently saw a paparazzi member who questioned her about a rumoured £55,000 wage raise, which she denied.
‘This is absolutely not true. So I can honestly say that there are no pay rises, it’s just not true, and no arguing. It is what it is,’ she stated.
‘I think people are vigilant, the BBC are vigilant, we are vigilant, that we are going through a crisis. You look at the nurses, you look at all these people who need the pay rises. There was no stand-off – I don’t know who leaks this information or where the information comes from but it’s absolutely not true.’
This weekend, Shirley celebrated her return to Strictly, tweeting: ‘Dancing through the years… I am very excited to be back for my 7th series of @bbcstrictly. The best on television.
‘It is an honour to be part of a show like no other. I feel this year will be beyond phenomenal. Expect the unexpected. It just gets better and better.’
Shirley also said on GMB that, in light of the massive trolling she received last year, her son Mark Ballas – who won Dancing With The Stars in the US last year – and a man named Harry would be monitoring her channels and screening out hateful messages.
‘Last year, I was struggling,’ she had claimed of internet trolls. ‘It wasn’t just a little bit, it was a lot – the majority of it was in silence.’
‘I felt the abuse snowballed out of control and impacted me in such a negative way. I’m a pretty stoic person, and I tend to hold everything in.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV. Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer later this year.