BBC Strictly's Anton Du Beke takes swipe at former contestants in show admission

Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke took a swipe at some of the former contestants on Wednesday's This Morning. During the latest instalment, Anton, 58, was on the show to talk about his book series, where chat soon got onto the current 2024 series of Strictly, which aired its first live show on Saturday.

Host Cat Deeley said: "Got to talk about it - the start of the show was just phenomenal, wasn't it?" Anton replied: "It was so good! There's so many wonderful characters on the show and the dancing was really quite good."

Fellow This Morning host Ben Shephard was quick to point out: "Really quite good?" Anton then took a swipe at former contestants, as he quipped: "No, because it's week one, normally they're awful! I've danced with some who couldn't even remember their own names, let alone the steps!

"There was some fantastic dancing at the weekend, this weekend is going to be really interesting. This is the first weekend it gets really serious and someone goes home, it's week two, first elimination!"

It comes as Strictly has already faced some drama ahead of the second live show this weekend. Earlier this week, contestant Nick Knowles revealed a painful injury after changing a tyre on his car with his arm now in a sling.

The DIY SOS star, 62, has since issued an update on his Strictly future, confirming he must rest his arm, despite his team trying to make the BBC show work.

On his way to rehearsals with professional partner, Luba Mushtuk, he said on Instagram: "It's been an interesting few days, that's for sure. I've seen a load of people, I've got a load of people trying to make everything work for me."

Nick added: "I'm feeling good, arm's in a sling still to make sure that it's rested when I'm not using it. But today I'm going to try and dance and see what my capabilities are. Luba is trying to prepare a dance that will work for me."

Revealing he was hoping to find out today if he can dance on Saturday, he concluded: "It's a big day for me. I'm really really hoping that we find out that I can dance on Saturday. I'd really like to stay part of the competition, so keep your fingers crossed for me."

Nick disclosed on Strictly Come Dancing spin-off It Takes Two on Monday night that he had sustained an injury as he wore a sling during his chat. Nick detailed how he suffered the 'painful' injury en route to a family party on Sunday to celebrate his birthday.

He recalled: "I went to get my 10-year-old son and bring him back to the party but we broke down on the motorway with a flat tyre, and it was raining and there were big lorries going past, so I tried to do it quickly and change the tyre quickly. As I took the tyre off, I basically damaged my bicep and damaged my arm."

Nick also shared news of his injury on Instagram on Monday as he headed to London's Harley Street "to get a scan done and to get some top medical advice".

This Morning continues on weekdays at 10am on both ITV and ITVX.