Strictly Come Dancing’s firm impartial judging approach could be thrown into question this year after the extent of head judge Shirley Ballas and BBC presenter Dan Walker's friendship was revealed.
Dan – who has been called the ‘dad of the group’ by his fellow Strictly contestants – climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania together for Comic Relief in 2019 and said in a chat with Closer Online, "We had some great conversations on that trip. I really got to know her well. I'm looking forward to seeing her.
"We've had a few Kilimanjaro reunions. She's great, talented and knows what she is talking about."
He went on to detail an episode where he showed off his dancing talent, adding, "On one particular occasion Shirley was feeling a bit down and a bit upset. I nicked one of the blankets we were using to keep warm at night and I did a bit of impromptu pasodoble. She laughed her head off."
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He added, "I questioned whether I would've got a 10 but she continued to laugh, so I'm not sure the technique was great."
It’s not the first time a potential conflict of interests has raised questions of favouritism on the show, after Motsi Mabuse was enlisted to replace Dame Darcey Bussell in 2019.
Motsi – who previously competed on and judged the German series of the show – was forced to defend her new role on the panel, as her sister Oti competed on the show.
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"I’m going to judge her like any other dancer," she told daytime telly host Lorraine at the time. "Oti has done so well here, I’m so proud of her. Me being extra hard, or me giving her extra points would be disrespectful to what she’s achieved.
"And I never want to do that and of course everybody else, this show is not about me and Oti, it’s about everybody else and it’s about being fair to everyone. I wouldn’t want to jeopardise a beautiful show and go there do all this negative stuff."
In the two years that Motsi has been on the panel, Oti has won both times, first with Emmerdale’s Kelvin Fletcher and last year with comedian Bill Bailey.