Strictly Come Dancing fans were stunned when it was announced that the popular feature was being discontinued.
The popular BBC dance competition returned for a new season over the weekend, with TV viewers excitedly watching as a new group of celebrities showed off their skills. However, it was announced that the show’s official blog would be discontinued and that going forward the focus would be on the show’s social media accounts.
Fans of the show could previously read updates from the Strictly team on the blog, including the weekly song reveal. Updates also came shortly after each week’s eliminations. But this is now a thing of the past, as the team made clear in a statement on Tuesday:
“However, in line with changing audience behaviour, the decision has been made to redirect users to our social channels, where there is an active community discussing the show on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
The Strictly blog and its comments section, like other BBC blogs, will soon be closed and no content will be published or updated.” Keep engaging with them on social media. Despite the comments, the official Twitter/X has not updated any information about this year’s show or participants.
The decision has left some fans devastated. One user wrote in the blog’s comments section: “Shame on you BBC. We’re not all on social media and even if we were, I don’t think it would replace our blog family.
Please understand the comment that ‘audience behaviour has changed.'” He said: “This suggests a lack of contributions to the blog. But it doesn’t indicate a lack of traffic from the blog – 1,644 comments on 30 September 2023, 2,175 comments on 28 October 2023, and 2,496 comments on 25 November 2023. There is more to it than the BBC is willing to say or admit.”
Others argued the statement was “riddled with doubts” and said they “felt like dying of a thousand cuts.” Others were outraged that it “smells of contempt” for long-time loyal blog users. This year’s contestants include Paul Merson and Tasha Gourri and just minutes into the new series fans were complaining about an “embarrassing” opening segment, in which dancers showed off their moves whilst riding on a party bus.
