Strictly scandal won't deter people from watching BBC show, says Yahoo readers

Yahoo UK's poll of the week lets you vote and indicate your strength of feeling on one of the week's hot topics. After 72 hours the poll closes and, each Friday, we'll publish and analyse the results, giving readers the chance to see how polarising a topic has become and if their view chimes with other Yahoo UK readers.

As the BBC prepares to announce the celebrities taking part in the 2024 edition of Strictly Come Dancing, the ongoing row surrounding the treatment of former contestants has reached fever pitch.

Following the exit of Giovanni Pernice from the professional dancer lineup after allegations of mistreatment by Amanda Abbington, and Graziano Di Prima being axed due his behaviour towards Zara McDermott, earlier this week Paralympian Will Bayley shared his experiences of suffering a 'life-changing' injury on the show, saying he was shown 'no duty of care'. The broadcaster has said it has robust duty of care procedures when it comes to its shows and this year producers are taking extra measures, including chaperones and two dedicated welfare officers.

Abbington then appeared on television to talk about her experiences, which led to Pernice issuing another statement disputing her version of events. But will all this off-screen drama put audiences off watching the show this year?

Yahoo News UK asked our readers "Will the Strictly controversies deter you from watching the show?", here are the results:

Our poll from Monday at midday until midday Thursday asked: 'Will the Strictly controversies deter you from watching the show?'

The poll received 1,962 votes.

Results showed that 53% (1,039 votes) of the voters would not be deterred from watching Strictly Come Dancing by the ongoing row.

Meanwhile 41% (804 votes) of voters said the scandal is putting them off watching the BBC dancing competition this year. Just 6% (118 votes) of voters had no strong feeling either way.

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Yahoo News UK readers were also asked: "How much do you care about the controversies surrounding Strictly?"

This poll received 1,175 votes, with the most common vote being 0, indicating many readers were not bothered at all by the controversies surrounding the show.

The average strength-of-feeling score on all the votes was 3.66, suggesting the scandal was not something that bothered a lot of people.

Our original poll article can be found here.

Read more of Yahoo UK's Poll of the Week articles