Gay BBC star claims Strictly snubbed him over same-sex couple demand

CJ de Mooi of the BBC show Eggheads has claimed he was dropped from Strictly Come Dancing because he wanted to compete as part of a same-sex pairing.

In a new interview he claims  that Jeremy Vine, who fronts Eggheads, was chosen over him as a result.

“I can’t believe they picked Jeremy over me. I’m quite upset. It’s because I wanted to dance in a same-sex couple,” he told The Mirror.

“Someone at the BBC told me at least for the foreseeable future neither Strictly Come Dancing or the US version Dancing With The Stars will have a same-sex couple on. How disappointing.”

He added: “The BBC has always been conservative with a small c, but maybe they perceive the viewership as more conservative than they actually are. Maybe they’ve got a bee in their bonnet about openly gay men in positive, sporty, outwardly masculine roles.”

In response, a BBC spokesperson denied that CJ was ever seriously being considered but did admit that “traditional” male-female couples would continue to dominate for the time being – because Strictly is a “family show”.

“Strictly Come Dancing is a family show and we’ve chosen the traditional format of mixed-sex couples,” they said. “At the moment we’ve no plans to introduce same-sex couples.”

Additionally, a source told the tabloid: “We never approached nor had any plans to approach CJ to participate in this year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing.

“CJ’s agent gave us the opportunity to consider him but there was only one person we ever wanted from Eggheads and that was Jeremy Vine and we are delighted that we got our man.”

Strictly kicks off with its launch show tonight on BBC One.