BBC Strictly Come Dancing star on 'awful moment' she discovered she was axed

A BBC Strictly Come Dancing star Arlene Phillips has shared the devastating moment she discovered she was axed from the show. Arlene was sacked from the show and the four judges are now Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton du Beke and also Motsi Mabuse.

Arlene has told The Times. "I could never say it was about my age. But I could not say exactly why I was let go because I never really had an answer.

"The day before I found out this news via a phone call from a radio station asking would I talk about it — and I had no clue as to what they were talking about. You know, I thought it was nonsense. It was first thing in the morning."

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"I no longer had a place on Strictly, but no agent, no one, to deal with it. It was a really awful moment," Arlene said. "I loved Strictly. I have no answers as to why and I wasn’t really strong enough to find the answers. You know, I didn’t have it inside me. It was so unexpected. There was no warning, no discussion. Nothing. There were never any conversations."

She was replaced by former Strictly winner Alesha Dixon/ The news led to much criticism being directed towards the BBC for its apparent discrimination against older women on television; the BBC, however, strongly denied this.

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