Strictly Come Dancing star Pete Wicks opened up about the recent backlash he’s received after being saved in the BBC show.
On Thursday’s instalment of Lorraine, the ITV star was joined by Strictly Come Dancing contestant Pete Wicks and his professional partner Jowita Przystał. Despite finding himself at the bottom of the leaderboard for the past few weeks, he’s avoided landing in the dance-off.
Sadly, this has resulted in a wave of backlash from viewers, as he detailed on his Staying Relevant podcast. The 36-year-old revealed there’s been a few people who have sent him death threats.
Addressing this while speaking to Lorraine, the Scottish star was disgusted as she reeled: “For goodness sake, Pete, it’s ridiculous!”
He replied, “It’s mad because it’s a light entertainment show. Some people take it very, very seriously, but I’m used to it. I’ve had it for years doing all sorts of different television.”
Strictly’s Pete Wicks addresses show exit as he’s bombarded with death threats
Lorraine interrupted the BBC contestant, telling him that despite being on TV, getting that level of backlash is not right. Addressing Jowita, she asked: “I bet you get angry on his behalf?”
The Strictly pro added: “Yeah because all we want to do is have fun and give people something on a Saturday night. We want to entertain people. Dancing is the thing, you might like it or not it’s fine.
“Everyone has their own opinion and it’s absolutely fine but I think we need to be more kind to each other, the world is already quite a difficult place to be.”
Pete and Jowita have avoided being in the dance-off in the competition
Over the weekend, Pete and Jowita were told they’d be taking to the dancefloor once again for Musicals Week. Although Pete confessed he didn’t think he’d make it this far in the competition.
He said: “I thought I’d go week one and every week I say to her, ‘this is going to be the last week, this will be the last week’. We’re now, what 11 weeks in?”
Sadly on Sunday night, viewers had to say goodbye to one star as Montell Douglas and Jamie Borthwick found themselves in the dance-off. After performing their routines for the judges for a second time, it was time for them to learn their fate. Ultimately, it was a unanimous decision as each judge opted to save Montell, sending Jamie home.
However, that wasn’t Montell’s first time at the bottom, as the Olympian has found herself in the dance-off multiple times. Speaking about dancing to stay in the competition on Loose Women this week, Johannes Radede made a candid confession.
Johannes and Montell were in the dance-off over the weekend as the judges chose to save them
He said: “I’m going to be honest, I have been a blubbering mess for the past three dance-offs ,and this woman here has been like, ‘It’s not over!'”
When asked if he feels he’s failed Montell as her trainer, he admitted that was true as he continued: You’ve let her down, yeah. This is not my first rodeo I’ve never pushed somebody like I’ve pushed Montell. But it’s not that, it’s how she’s pushed me as a trainer.”
Paying tribute to his celebrity partner, Johannes believes he’s dancing with a champion, as Montell touched on being in the dance-off once again.
She confessed: “It never gets easier. I don’t think it’s easier but I definitely think mindset for sure comes in straight away. He (Johannes) always jokes that I’m coaching him on the dance-off! I’m like, ‘We’ve got this’.
