Alison Hammond asked if she would have liked a Strictly chaperone
Alison Hammond has opened up on rumours that Strictly Come Dancing bosses are considering employing chaperones for the celebrity contestants.
The 49-year-old This Morning presenter, who competed on the BBC dance show in 2014 with professional partner Aljaz Skorjanec, has shared her thoughts on the huge show shake-up.
This comes in the wake of Graziano Di Prima's alleged dismissal and accusations against Giovanni Pernice, leading to speculation that chaperones may be introduced to protect stars from any potential misconduct by the professional dancers. On Tuesday's (July 16) episode of This Morning, Alison expressed her support for the idea, stating: "I personally think its a good idea."
When co-host Dermot O'Leary asked if she would have wanted a chaperone during her stint on the show, she responded: "Obviously not, I don't want a chaperone. You just want to enjoy yourself. To be fair, out of the five days training in a week, you probably have cameras in the studio with you three of those days."
Dermot then queried whether she felt safe and secure during her time on the show, to which Alison replied: "Yeah, I had Aljaz and he was a brilliant teacher.
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"I love working with him and I never had any issues whatsoever but there was always people around filming the rehearsals but there was about two days a week where I always alone with just Aljaz rehearsing but I personally wouldn't make chaperones if its going to safeguard people."
As reported by The Times, the introduction of chaperones at stars' training sessions might be enforced to guarantee that no boundaries are breached by the professionals.
Other actions under consideration encompass stricter vetting of the show's professional dancers and providing them with more rigorous training to deal with celebrities, reports the Mirror.
An insider disclosed to The Times: "The BBC has toughened up its duty of care rules and Sam is now acting as a full-time duty of care exec. She will be discussing the protocols and where they need to be tightened up.
"It's 90 per cent a happy ship but the push to win and compete might have meant some overstepping of the mark."
"We have acted swiftly and decisively to nip that in the bud and it doesn't take away from almost everyone else having a really lovely, enriching experience from being part of the show." BBC has been contacted for a comment.
This Morning airs weekdays on ITV at 10am
