Debbie McGee has come out in support of fellow ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ contestant Alexandra Burke, labelling stories that they have fallen out as “fiction”.
Earlier this week, Alexandra wrote an open letter to The Sun’s showbiz editor to address the “lies” she says the newspaper has printed about her during her time on the BBC dance show, including a feud with Debbie and claims that she had a ‘backstage meltdown’ when she found herself in the bottom two on last weekend’s show.
Debbie admits that the constant stream of stories is hard to deal with but insists there is no bad blood between her and the former ‘X Factor’ winner.
She tells The Telegraph (£): “There have been stories about Alexandra and I feuding, and you do find it hard to deal with because it really is all fiction.
“There’s nothing that I’ve read that’s been true.
“At first we laughed about them, but as it goes on, I’ve stopped reading things. When you’re going through grief [as Alex is], you don’t feel as strong as you once were.
“Some things have affected me more since Paul died. We’re now in week 12, so I can relate to Alex’s comments about things taking their toll.”
Earlier this week, Alexandra admitted that the negativity she has been on the receiving end of during her time on ’Strictly’ has led to her bottling up her emotions.
The singer says she’s now too self-conscious to show how she’s really feeling after she was repeatedly accused of being “fake” by some viewers on social media.
She says: “Twitter seems to have given people permission to be incredibly hurtful. They don’t seem to realise that I have feelings and get upset.
“The saddest thing is that I started the show completely myself – my joy and my tears were 100 percent genuine, however much people said they were fake – but I’m now so self-conscious, I try not to react at all in case people say, ‘Oh, look, here are the fake tears again’.
“I feel I’ve got to lock my emotions away, where before I used to wear my heart on my sleeve.”