Thomas Skinner claims BBC rigged Strictly vote removing him
Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Thomas Skinner has claimed the BBC rigged the vote which led to him leaving the show.
The social media personality claimed in an online post that on the night she left the competition she was sent “an anonymous email claiming to be from a BBC executive with statistics” showing she “received many more votes than it appeared”.
He said he also claimed in the email that he was “angry” and “nervous” about the BBC’s meeting with US Vice-President JD Vance.
There were reports that Skinner was suing the BBC over allegations of voting fraud against him. A BBC spokesman denied the claim, saying Strictly’s public vote was “independently audited and verified to ensure full accuracy”.
They added: “Any claims to the contrary are completely unfounded.”
PromoVeritas, the company that verifies the show’s public votes, said that all votes it received were “verified” and “independently and comprehensively verified by two auditors.”
The BBC is understood to be unaware of any legal complaints in the matter.
Skinner was the first celebrity contestant to be voted out of this year’s series.
He announced he would not be participating ahead of Saturday’s finale, when former contestants return.
“I talked to my beloved dance partner Amy Dowden to make sure she would be okay with me not attending,” he wrote in a lengthy post about X, explaining that his post was “so people would know the truth” about his absence.
“I don’t want people to think I’m angry when I’m not.”
Skinner claimed the email, which purported to be from a BBC executive, had been “independently verified” as authentic, but it is unclear how he did so.
He said he wanted to see the official vote counts “to support what I was emailed but was told they couldn’t be shown” and that they “were never shown at the time of the show.”
He added that there were “little things” that added to the feeling of “how unfair everything is”, such as the welcome gift to the show being the only gift that was “apparently stolen”.
A BBC spokesman said Skinner had not yet shared the email with anyone from the broadcaster “despite requests” and they were therefore unable to comment.
They added that the Strictly team “categorically did not provide any players with ‘welcome gifts'”.
Skinner made his TV screen debut on The Apprentice in 2019 and has since appeared on shows including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, Good Morning Britain and Celebrity Masterchef. She will also appear on Celebrity Apprentice this Christmas.
He is also known for his social media videos encouraging people to think positively, often ending with his trademark “bosh”.
But he has come under criticism in recent months for meeting Donald Trump’s vice president over the summer and being photographed wearing a Make America Great Again hat.
In his post, Skinner emphasized that he was “not a political man” and added: “I just love my country and I’m a patriot.”
He said he had a “private” Zoom call with BBC executives on Wednesday about “moving forward”, which was leaked the next morning and became “national news”.
