Strictly Come Dancing may be about to come grinding to a halt as the show’s professional dancers threaten strike action over pay, according to reports.
The ballroom experts, who coach the celebrity contestants, are “said to have formed an unofficial union and banded together to demand more money from the BBC”, according to the Daily Mail.
Under their current deals, each professional is paid £50,000 per series, regardless of how many seasons they have appeared on the show.
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The Strictly judges, by contract, are believed to get between £150,000 and £250,000 for each series of the BBC1 hit.
An anonymous source told The Sun: “The professionals have been talking among themselves and are going to come together to ask Strictly bosses for a pay rise. They put in incredible hours rehearsing both with their celebrities and also group routines. A lot of them are putting in ten-hour days, which is a lot of dancing.
“It has been on the cards for a long time and they haven’t had a payrise in years. They love the show, they just want to feel their money reflects the amount of work they put in and also the celebrity status and profile that comes with it. Some of them are now almost better known than the celeb contestants and they feel that should lead to more cash - especially when the judges get paid so much just for turning up once a week.
“Some feel it’s a bit of a joke.”
Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Brendan Cole, who was dropped from the current series, complained about the pay during a 2008 interview. He told Now magazine: “My money from Strictly just about pays the bills. I don’t have a car. I would like to get one, but until then I’m on the Tube.
“I don’t even own my house. I can’t afford it. I rent where I live.”
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