The BBC has announced plans to introduce rehearsal chaperones on Strictly Come Dancing after complaints from former contestants.
Following the news that professional dancers, Graziano Di Prima and Giovanni Pernice, are stepping down from their roles and will not be returning to the cast of the ever-popular BBC reality competition show when it returns later this year, the BBC has now announced some additional steps to strengthen welfare and support on the show.
These new measures follow complaints made about training and rehearsal expectations from some of the professional dancers, as well as their treatment of contestants and overall conduct.
Former Love Island star and documentary maker, Zara McDermott – who competed on Strictly Come Dancing last year, and was partnered with Graziano Di Prima – is the first former contestant to publicly speak out against her professional dance partner’s conduct on the show.
The media personality notably took to social media this week to share her personal account.
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BBC to introduce Strictly Come Dancing rehearsal chaperones following ex-contestant complaints / Credit: BBC iPlayer
The 27-year-old said she had “wrestled with the fear of opening up” about her time and experiences on the show because she feared the “public backlash” and “victim shaming” that could come with it.
Ultimately though, McDermott said she gained strength to “face those fears” and speak out.
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“So much of my Strictly experience was everything I could have dreamt of,” McDermott wrote in her statement shared to her Instagram Stories yesterday (16 July).
“The entire production team and everyone behind the scenes as well as my fellow contestants were so amazing to work with. However, my experience inside the training room was very different. Reports have been made about my treatment on the show and there were witnesses to some events, as well as videos of particular incidents which are incredibly distressing to watch.”
Zara McDermott is the first ex-contestant to publicly speak about her experiences and treatment on the show / Credit: BBC | Zara McDermott (via Instagram)
The BBC says that, due to the concerns having arisen in recent months being “fundamentally” about training and rehearsals, the actions and additional “practical” steps it has announced this week are “designed to address that”, for the most part.
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The broadcaster says that, as “a matter of course”, it takes duty of care “extremely seriously”, and its processes on Strictly Come Dancing updated every year to reflect this – with its intentions being to continue to keep this under “constant review”.
So, from this upcoming series of the show onwards, the BBC has confirmed that there will be a production team member present during training room rehearsals “at all times”.
On top of this, the broadcaster says it intends to increase existing support with the addition of two new roles on the show dedicated to welfare support – a ‘Celebrity Welfare Producer’ and a ‘Professional Dancer Welfare Producer’.
Further training will also be delivered to the wider production team and crew.
Kate Phillips, who is the BBC’s Director of Unscripted, admitted that while the broadcaster knows its shows have been positive experiences “for the vast majority” of those who have taken part, she said that “if issues are raised with us, or we’re made aware of inappropriate behaviour, we will always take that seriously and act.”
Featured Image – BBC
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Government announces all national museums in UK will remain FREE for everyone to visit
Emily Sergeant
Dozens of national museums across the UK are set to remain free for everyone to visit, it has been confirmed.
Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the 14 national museums of the UK are all located in England – including the Imperial War Museum North, and the Science and Industry Museum in our region – and free entry to was first introduced all the way back in 2001, with millions of visitors having benefitted since.
National museums are said to add more than £1 billion a year to the economy, and bring in visitors from all over the world.
In fact, seven of the UK’s 10 most visited museums are national museums, and 7.1 million people visited the Natural History Museum and 6.4 million visited the British Museum in 2025 alone.
The Government has announced that all national museums in the UK will remain free for everyone to visit / Credit: Science Museum Group | Wikimedia Commons
Earlier this year though, the Government committed to working with local leaders and the museum and tourism sectors to explore whether charging overseas visitors could help museums’ finances.
But following this, it’s now believed that charging could deter visitors, and that the impacts and benefits would ‘not be felt equally’ across the sector.
Instead, the free entry will be funded by the £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund – which is providing £760 million for museums – while £600 million of infrastructure funding is supporting national museums and DCMS-sponsored cultural organisations.
The latter funding will be used to address critical maintenance and works to estates, and enable institutions to deliver on their commitments to share collections with visitors from around the world.
A further £160 million is coming from The Museum Estates and Development Fund to help museums tackle maintenance backlogs.
On top of that, the Government will work with Arts Council to develop a long-term strategic plan for the future of museums.
Featured Image – Science Museum Group
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Man City release statement after being found guilty of all charges related to Premier League’s financial rules
Emily Sergeant
Manchester City has finally broken its silence after being found guilty all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules.
Yesterday, the Premier League released a formal statement confirming that an independent Commission had found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period.
On top of that, the club was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the nine-season period – which were part of a disguised funding scheme, with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Following this report being published yesterday, Manchester City has now finally released a statement of its own, breaking its silence on the topic for the first time since the news broke last Friday.
The statement reads in full: “Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission, that has been published today.
“The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case. The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums.
“The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.
“The Club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.
“The Club is obviously restricted in what it can say further until all future proceedings are complete.”
Emily Sergeant -
17th July 2024 
