Why Strictly’s going to be cancelled: It’s not just shocking rape, cocaine and vile on-set behaviour allegations, says AMANDA PLATELL. The judges and contestants represent the new kind of rot… why’s it being silenced

With the shocking news that a second unnamed Strictly ‘star’ has been arrested on suspicion of raping a woman, the programme, once the BBC’s golden goose, has been mired in controversy once again.

One has to wonder whether Strictly’s so-called ‘curse’ may eventually turn on itself and shatter the glitterball once and for all.

More than ten million people, including me, once tuned in every Saturday to watch Strictly Come Dancing, the latest family-friendly show that promises to transform ugly duckling recruits into dancing swans. Viewing figures have now dropped to six million; And this was before the latest scandal.

One reason for our disappointment is that producers increasingly include celebrities who turn out to be trained dancers, rather than teaching newcomers to dance.

Three of the celebrities currently at the top of the rankings have professional stage experience; among them is dazzling dancer Lewis Cope, the first to score four tens in this series. He came second on Sky One’s Got To Dance and launched his career in the West End production of Billy Elliot The Musical.

Then there’s Love Island’s Amber Davies, a trained dancer with a musical theater background who has managed to stay at the top of the Strictly leaderboard alongside Nikita Kuzmin.

But there’s more to Strictly’s collapse than this. Where did it all go so wrong?

Were the show’s high-profile stars so inflated and untouchable by their own egos that BBC bosses turned a blind eye to their behavior and what was going on behind the sequined beauty of the ballroom?

Scandals come faster than the foxtrot. Allegations that professional dancers used cocaine have led the BBC to launch an investigation into allegations that not just one, but two of the show’s stars used Class A drugs on set.

There have also been allegations of brutal bullying, which has left contestants, including celebrities, not only reduced to tears and pain, but also often injured due to grueling training sessions.

Audiences are leaving in droves. My faithful Strictly Saturday night club has dwindled from what used to be 12 members to just two members – me and my moggie Ted. I also make sure to pre-record the boring parts, which make up three quarters of the show, so that I can fast-forward.

And now I’m out of touch with the judges: Shirley Ballas, who blatantly promotes her own private dance sessions; the unwatchably stunted Motsi Mabuse; grimly grinning Anton Du Beke; and the one-time great Craig Revel Horwood, who once spiced up the series but now seems confused in the BBC’s PC world and is limited to saying: everyoneto ‘wonderful’.

And they are all paid a staggering sum of around £250,000 per series.

The sad truth is that the magic of Strictly is Dead came when original host Bruce Forsyth walked off the stage and was replaced by the iron-board thin, no-nonsense Tess Daly and the enigmatic Claudia Winkleman with her annoying fringe (which my hairdresser said was a fake clip).

And after he died, disasters increased.

Who can forget that the series hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when actress Amanda Abbington threatened to sue the BBC over the ‘bullying’ she claimed she experienced at the hands of professional dancer Giovanni Pernice? He denied the allegations of harassment or threatening behavior but left the show heartbroken.

Or that last year, fellow professional dancer Graziano Di Prima was dismissed for gross misconduct after he allegedly kicked dance partner Zara McDermott in practice.

We now have a second rape charge following the arrest in August of another unnamed man on suspicion of sexual assault. And this is in addition to the Met being called in to investigate illegal drug use on Strictly.

Is this repeat scandal the real reason the show lost its star, Claudia Winkleman? Did he see what would happen despite the fringes? Who knows?

But what we can say for sure is that the show has lost its appeal and the sparkle has completely disappeared.

Harry is humiliated

The Duchess of Sussex appears on the latest cover of Harper’s Bazaar and talks about ‘learning from her mistakes’ and her relationship with Prince Harry

It’s humiliating for Prince Harry when, in an interview promoting his jams, Meghan describes him as having a ‘childlike curiosity’, which he says is what draws her to him; not his royal title or fame, but his ‘banter’.

The mild-mannered lad, who achieved a B in art and a D in geography for his two A-levels at Eton, needs no reminding of the fact that he is the dullest member of the Royal Family.

Although credit is due where it is due, she deserves a master’s degree in feeding her organic offspring.