Strictly Come Dancing 'struggled to get talent' for 2025 season after string of scandals

Strictly Come Dancing 2025 may be just days away - but reports have suggested it was one of the hardest years to organise due to the toxic connotations of the long-running show.

The BBC dance contest has had a difficult reputation since the very first season in 2004 - as viewers were shocked when newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky broke up-with long-term love Mike Barnard after taking part in the show. And raised eyebrows skyrocketed even higher when her dance partner, Brendan Cole, also split from his fiancée Camilla Dallerup around the same time and the pair embarked on a short-lived romance.

From this, the alleged Strictly curse, was born - with contestant and professional dancers' relationships and marriages being wrecked almost every year since. But in more recent years, an even darker shadow has fallen over the family entertainment show as it has been engulfed by more sever scandals.

READ MORE: Strictly’s Vito makes cringe-worthy slip while congratulating pregnant Dianne Buswell

READ MORE: Strictly's Tom Skinner reveals terrifying death threats after JD Vance meeting

In 2024, professional dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima both left the show under clouds of shame following accusations they subjected their celebrity dance partners to abusive behaviour. And the subsequent season also drew criticism as opera singer Wynne Evans was accused of "inappropriate and unacceptable" comments during his time on the show and 2025 Live Tour.

Now it has been suggested Strictly bosses had to resort to offering slots on the 2025 season to mediocre reality stars as they struggled to draw real talent to the show. A source told the Daily Mail: "Yes, the Beeb had to expand their roster as they were struggling to get talent to sign up for a variety of mitigating circumstances."

A Strictly spokesperson hit back at the report, however, telling the Mirror: "This is pure conjecture from the Daily Mail. There was absolutely no difference to the casting process this year, both in timescale and the great mix of names wanting to take part."

Fans will note, however, that a number of obscure reality and social media stars are taking part in the 2025 season - a far cry from the years that gold medal winning athletes and Hollywood star talent took part in the show.

Vicky Pattison, most famous for being a cast member on MTV's controversial reality show Geordie Shore, and former Love Island contestant Dani Dyer are among the contestants of the 2025 season. While ex-Apprentice contestant Thomas Skinner and TikTok personality George Clarke are also in the mix.

Former ER star Alex Kingston, previously revealed that she had been asked to take part in the show many times before but felt there was a "stigma" attached to featuring in the cast.

She is appearing in the upcoming new season, but previously confessed to the Daily Mail: "I've been asked to do it the past but my agent always said no because, I think, for a long time there has been a sort of stigma around Strictly.

"If you're a theatre actor, theatre actors don't participate, which is silly. Just because I do Shakespeare, you know, Shakespeare wrote plays for the populists, he didn't write for a certain level of society."

Strictly will return to screens on Saturday 20 September on BBC One at 6pm. A Radio Times synopsis of the 2025 launch show declares: "Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman welcome 15 new famous faces, reality stars and content creators to the Strictly ballroom to pair them with their professional partners, while judges Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke give their initial thoughts on the couples."

The description adds: "There's also a routine from the reigning champions Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell and music by Jessie J."

The Mirror has approached a Strictly Come Dancing spokesperson for comment on this story.

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Threads.

READ MORE: Maura Higgins says affordable £10 root spray ‘saves her life’ and covers grey hairs