Darren Gough has urged 'Strictly Come Dancing' to ban celebrities with dance experience.
Darren Gough
The former England cricketer - who won the BBC's Latin and ballroom show back in 2005 alongside pro partner Lilia Kopylova - insisted too many of this year's contestants were "already brilliant" by the first week.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "It defeats the object of the show."
The 50-year-old star pointed to the current series, where 'EastEnders' star Maisie Smith won last year's 'Children In Need' special, actress Caroline Quentin went to ballet school and Bill Bailey has had some previous experience.
He added: "That’s my biggest bugbear now. They always say they haven’t done it but they have. I believed the public would vote them out because they would see right through that.
"When I look back, my biggest compliment from anyone is that people always thought men shouldn’t dance.
"But over the years – especially with all the popularity you get from the show - a lot of people who are already great dancers want to sign up to do the show.”
Darren has been offering the Beeb numerous suggestions to shake up the competition, including recently calling on bosses to scrap the judges' votes and let the public be the ones to fully decide on the results.
He said: "I believe reality shows should be nothing to do with the judges.
“The judges should put their scores in but the public are the ones who want to see that person week in week out - they should be the ones that make the decision about who stays in and who goes home.
"They’ll pick someone they really like early on in the show, and they’ll want them to get to the final because they might think they’re the best dancer."
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