AMBER Davies has addressed the backlash she received after signing up for Strictly despite her West End experience.
The former Love Island star is also known for starring in various musicals such as 9 to 5, Back to the Future, The Great Gatsby and Pretty Woman.
Amber Davies has spoken out about the backlash she has gotten since joining Strictly[/caption]
She even recalled a moment this week when she broke down in tears over a hard dance move[/caption]
She recently replaced Dani Dyer, who quit after the first episode of the series due to an injury.
Amber, 28, instantly became the joint female favourite, alongside Vicky Pattison, who are both 5/1 with Ladbrokes.
Chatter on social media soon turned to how she is so experienced, following her signing, with fans slamming Strictly and plunging it into another fix row.
Speaking on This Morning today about her prior experience and the backlash she received, Amber has set the record street.
Host of the show Ben said to Amber: “You’re a professional performer.”
Cat later added: “You have experience of dancing,” to which Amber replied, “Yes.”
“But you’re not a ballroom dancer, you’ve never done the samba before,” Cat added.
Amber quickly affirmed: “No, no, no.”
She then added: “Also, I wanna say, I think the ballroom and Latin community know that musical theatre is world’s apart [from ballroom dancing].”
Ben then asked her how she feels when people say she’s a professional dancer and shouldn’t be on the show.
“I do understand where they come from, because I can perform.
“But, there’s a great example. Yesterday we were doing our American Smooth, and even just walking left right, left right, brought me to tears.
“It’s so much more complicated than you can imagine.”
Nikita then explained it was “three steps” and can be “really difficult”.
Strictly Come Dancing 2025 lineup
Strictly Come Dancing news and the latest line up
- Nitro from Gladiators will be showing off his dance moves on this year’s show.
- Doctor Who and ER star Alex Kingston has signed up.
- Chris Robshaw, former Harlequins and England rugby captain.
- Eastenders actress Suki Panesar, has moved from Walford to the ballroom.
- Neighbours legend Stefan Dennis has been confirmed.
- George Clarke, a YouTube star, joins Strictly.
- Dani Dyer pulled out with injury and has been replaced by Love Island winner Amber Davies.
- La Voix is the first drag star to join the main series
- Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink swaps is football boots for dancing shoes.
- Ellie Goldstein became the first contestant with Down’s Syndrome to take part.
- Thomas Skinner is swapping the boardroom for ballroom dancing
- I’m a Celeb winner Vicky Pattison has been announced.
- Emmerdale actor Lewis Cope was announced as the last contestant.
- Game of Thrones star Kristian Nairn pulled out of the show before the launch date over medical reasons.
Amber then explained how it “exhausts every muscle in your body”.
This comes after we revealed that when Amber joined the show, her co-stars were not impressed.
A TV insider said at the time: “The celebs are trying to be good sports about everything and don’t want to let on to show bosses they’re unhappy.
“But behind the scenes, all the chatter is they think it’s unfair that the line-up now includes two sensational dancers who have substantial experience on stage.
“Having one celeb with that kind of background is one thing but having two is seen as unfair, particularly if they both ended up in the final.”
Dani, 29, had to drop out after revealing she had fractured her foot in rehearsals with pro partner Nikita Kuzmin and would not be able to perform in tonight’s first live show of the 2025 series.
North Wales-born Amber, who at 16 gained a scholarship to train in musical theatre at London’s Urdang performing arts academy, will partner Ukrainian Nikita, 27, and they will perform a waltz.
She said after the announcement: “I’ve watched Strictly with my family since I was younger and to now be part of the show is a dream come true.”
Nikita was originally paired up with Dani Dyer, but when she was forced to pull out, he was paired with Amber at the last minute[/caption]
