Kristina Rihanoff was "heartbroken" to read Zara McDermott's statement about her time on 'Strictly Come Dancing'.
Kristina Rihanoff reflects on Strictly Come Dancing investigation
Professional dancer Graziano Di Prima, 30, has been fired from the BBC One show amid reports of alleged misconduct relating to how he treated his 2023 partner Zara, 27, on the show last year.
Kristina - who was part of the show for eight years - has now reacted to the former ‘Love Island’ star's statement during an appearance on ITV's 'Lorraine' on Wednesday (17.07.24), and she told host Lorraine Kelly that the reports are "disturbing".
She said: “All of this is very distressing for a lot of Strictly fans to read and for someone who worked on the show for eight years, for me it is very disturbing and upsetting.”
Addressing Zara’s statement to the public, the dancer continued: “For me as a woman it was heartbreaking that she actually suffered so much stress and abuse. It is never ok in any shape or form that should be allowed and it’s just very sad that she had to leave it for a whole year.”
Kristina then discussed the recent measures announced by the BBC aimed at safeguarding the mental and physical well being of the celebrities, which include having a production team member present for rehearsals, as well as new roles for a celebrity welfare producer and professional dancer welfare producer, plus further training for the team and crew.
She said: "It's never okay. It's very sad... from my point of view, if you have cameras there, you do have a member of staff always there.
"My years on Strictly, we've always had a production crew filming every second of rehearsals and that was the case in all my eight years on the show.
“If the cameras are there all the time, you can’t get away from what is being filmed because there is evidence on the video and I think it should have been done like that previously.”
When asked if 'Strictly' had changed since her time on the show, Kristina acknowledged that the programme is "very different".
She explained: “I think the show is very different right now and I also have to say that when I was hired for the show I had to go through a very strict process and I had experience in teaching.
“The professionals now might be good dancers but it isn’t the main job - the main job is to teach and teach that person in a way where they can progress on the show and that is the main job.”
Last weekend, Graziano confirmed he had departed 'Strictly'.
He wrote on Instagram: "I deeply regret the events that led to my departure from Strictly. My intense passion and determination to win might have affected my training regime.
"Respecting the BBC HR process, I understand it's best for the show that I step away.
"While there are aspects of this story involving external influences that I can't discuss at this time, I remain committed to being strong for my family and friends."
Zara has since told how she had a "very different" experience "inside the training room" compared to how it was working with her fellow contestants, and she claimed there are videos of "particular incidents, which are incredibly distressing to watch".
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