Gleb Savchenko has slammed ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, claiming the show “is not as exciting as it could be”, and urged BBC bosses to pay the professional dancers more money.
In 2016, the dancer called time on his ‘Strictly’ career after just one series, and despite stating that he was leaving to spend more time with his family, Gleb soon signed up for US show ‘Dancing With The Stars’.
He has appeared on every series of the American show since but following Brendan Cole’s departure, many fans have wondered whether Gleb could be tempted back to Blighty.
Sadly, his latest comments suggest the answer to that is a solid no.
Speaking to the Sun, he said: “‘Strictly’ is not as exciting as it could be. It’s more conservative than in the US.
He also criticised the structure of the final, pointing out that “no one knows who’s got second place or third place”.
“That’s a total turn-off,” he said. “I just did 13 weeks of a competition, I got into the final, I want to know what place I got and my celebrity wants to know how well they did, so it sucks.
That’s not all though, as Gleb also claimed the pros aren’t paid enough, adding: “They should pay more to dancers. They should triple it. The amount of work we do is unreal.
While the BBC have never revealed what the dancers are paid, it’s widely rumoured that they take home £30,000 per series - while the judges earn substantially more.
Gleb has had mixed results on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ and in the most recent series, he finished in tenth place with partner, actress Sasha Pieterse.
‘Strictly Come Dancing’ won’t be back on our screens until the summer and all eyes are currently on the judging panel, as we await official word on whether Shirley Ballas will be back.
The Liverpudlian as good as confirmed it last week, by responding to a news story on the matter.