Ancient Strictly Come dance professionally James Jordan has hit back furiously after unearthed footage emerged of him telling partner Georgina Bouzova he would “drag her across the floor and scream at her” if she forgot her moves.
The 46-year-old ballroom dancer and choreographer criticised the BBC after the clip began circulating again following the recent Giovanni Pernice scandal and Graziano Di Prima scandals – claiming that most of the images “were not related to Georgina at all”.
The clip, which was filmed during the fourth season in 2006, shows him rehearsing with actress Georgina.
He also tells her “I’ll kill you” as he demands she stand on one leg and insists that unless she has physically broken a rib, he doesn’t care about the pain she is in. He is also seen throwing a chair across the workout studio.
But he has now responded to the clip on his Instagram, sharing a furious statement saying the footage had been “edited for entertainment purposes” and was “highly produced and exaggerated”.
He said there was “no comparison to be made between these terrible allegations and VT” – while insisting none of his celebrity co-stars ever complained about him during his eight years on the show.
It comes as Graziano, 30, was fired from the show last week amid reports he verbally and physically abused his celebrity partner. Zara McDermott27 years old, during last year’s series.
This happened just a few weeks after Giovanni Pernice33 years old, was suspended for a BBC the probe is An investigation has been launched into allegations of off-camera misconduct by Amanda Abbington, 50, and two other former celebrity partners.
James wrote in the caption of his post as he shared a photo of himself dancing with Georgina: “For those of you who saw the BBC VT montage of me working out with Georgina 18 years ago – yes I used to have hair!!
“But I just wanted to reassure you that the footage was shot and edited by the BBC team for broadcast on It Takes Two 18 years ago, specifically for ENTERTAINMENT purposes.
“Many of these clips were not related to Georgina at all (they are not allowed to do so nowadays as it distorts what actually happened) but were included for the purpose of exaggeration.
“The BBC thought it would be funny to set up this VT this way. You can see Georgina laughing about it in the studio and in the clips… And I have never had ANY complaints from my celebrity dance partners in the 8 years I have been on the show.
“Of course, if I had really upset anyone, the BBC would NEVER have allowed the footage to be used in this way. The producers loved to portray me as the bad guy and I played along… ever the perfectionist… but I would never have deliberately upset anyone and I pride myself on my good friendships with my famous dance partners.
“I strongly suggest that no one attempts to link this edited BBC VT to the current alleged reports of abusive behaviour taking place behind the scenes by other Strictly professionals.
“There is no comparison between these terrible allegations and the exaggerated images produced by the BBC archives circulating on social media. To be clear, I deplore harassment and abuse in the workplace.”
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Jordan, who left Strictly in 2012 after appearing in eight series, also banned Ms Bouzova, who previously starred in BBC medical drama Casualty, who ate sweets and chocolate and only allowed her to buy pineapple and ham when they visited a supermarket together.
The video, which emerged just days after Graziano was fired for allegedly hitting and kicking his partner Zarawas broadcast in the Strictly spin-off It takes two at the time with his then host Claudia Winkleman present it to the viewers.
Halfway through the clip, the show cut back to the presenter who downplayed the behaviour by describing Jordan, the husband of another former Strictly pro Hello Jordanas “an extraordinary human being.”
The video, which is shared on social media platforms Tick Tock The film opens with Jordan telling Ms. Bouzova that he was a “force to be reckoned with” before ordering her to “move that fucking foot.”
Explaining why he works the star so hard, he then says: “Unless she physically has a broken rib, I don’t care… if you kill her, get on your left leg. Unless her feet are bleeding, I don’t care. If they hurt, dance anyway.”
Appearing surprised by Jordan’s, 46, outburst, Ms Bouzova then asked: “I forgot, what are you going to do?”
He replies: “I’ll drag you across the floor and yell at you when you get up…”
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Later in the video, Jordan tells Ms Bouzova that she should lose weight. She tells the camera: “He basically thinks I’m a bit of a fat chick,” to which he responds: “I told you no chocolate, no chips. Every time I see you, you eat chocolate.”
She then asked him if she looked fat, to which he replied no, but when she asked him, “Do I look like I want to lose some…”, he replied, “Yes.”
On Monday, Jordan addressed the Di Prima scandal, writing on X: “Just saw another professional dancer is not coming to Strictly – again for apparently abusive behaviour. What is going on?”
The video was released after The Sun newspaper claimed that a third former professional dancer had been named by Carter-Ruck, the law firm representing Amanda Abbington. There is no suggestion that the dancer is Jordan.
Little more is known about the identity of this person, and the BBC does not know who or what he is accused of.
Sources close to Strictly say they suspect the story is being “fomented” by former Sherlock star Ms Abbington, who is awaiting the outcome of an internal BBC investigation after accusing her partner Giovanni Pernice of bullying her during rehearsals.
Meanwhile, Strictly staff have accused the BBC of failing to report the scandal accurately on its own airwaves.
On Tuesday night, Radio 4’s news programme said Di Prima had denied hitting or kicking Ms McDermott and on Wednesday morning the Today programme used the term “harsh training methods” to describe his behaviour towards the former Love Island contestant.