BBC Strictly Come Dancing fans fume at 'baffling' announcement ahead of first live show

Fans of Strictly Come Dancing were left reeling after the announcement a much-loved feature has been axed.

The popular BBC dance contest returned for a new series at the weekend, with TV viewers eagerly watching a new batch of celebrities strut their stuff. However, it has been revealed the show's official blog has been discontinued, with more focus now on the programme's social media accounts instead.

Fans of the show used be able to read updates from the Strictly team on the blog, with weekly song reveals among the announcements. There were also updates in the immediate aftermath of the weekly eliminations. However, that is now a thing of the past, with the team revealing in a statement on Tuesday: "We understand that a community has built up over the years and some of you will find this disappointing.

"However, in line with changing audience behaviours a decision has been made to direct users to our social channels where there are active communities discussing the show on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. The Strictly blog and its comment section will soon be closing in line with other blogs across the BBC, with content no longer being published or updated."

It went on to thanks fans for their contributions over the years before saying it's hoped they will still interact with them on social media. Despite the comments, the official Twitter/X hasn't been updated with any information on this year's show or contestants. The decision left some fans devastated. One user fumed in the blog's comments section: "Shame on you, BBC. We don’t all use social media and even if we did I don’t think it would replace our blog family."

Another said they were "baffled" at the decision, before adding they couldn't grasp the "comment 'the changing audience behaviour". They said: "This suggests a lack of numbers contributing to the blog. Yet on 30/09/23 there were 1644 comments, on 28/10/23 there were 2175 comments and on 25/11/23 , 2496 comments this hardly suggests a lack of traffic through the blog. There is much more to this than the beeb is prepared to say....or admit to."

Others claimed the statement had left them "full of questions," before saying it felt like "death by a thousand cuts" and fumed it "smacks of a disregard" to loyal blog users over the years. This year's competition sees the likes of Paul Merson and Tasha Ghouri competing and within minutes of the new series starting, fans were complaining about the "cringy" opening segment. In it, the dancers showcased their moves while travelling on a party bus..

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