Strictly Come Dancing: Len Goodman predicts backlash to same-sex couples

Former judge said he ‘liked it as it was’

Len Goodman has weighed in on the BBC’s decision to potentially allow same-sex couples to compete in Strictly Come Dancing.

The former judge, 75, said he’s an “old traditionalist”, and wasn’t sure whether giving contestants the choice of dancing with members of the same sex is the right way forward.

Goodman was head judge on the panel for 12 years before stepping down in 2016. No show to date has yet allowed celebrities to dance in same-sex couples, but the channel has now said that they’re “open” to the idea for the new series, which launched on Saturday.

“I like it as it was, but everything moves on,” Goodman told The Sun. “If they do it, there’ll be people saying, ‘I’m not going to watch it any more, [and] if they don’t do it, there’ll be people saying, ‘Well, you’re homophobic.’ They can’t win.”

Goodman added that he’s “used to... traditional ballroom and Latin dancing,” but said if it was done in a “tasteful” way, he “[thinks] it would be okay.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m an old traditionalist,” he said.

Earlier this year, it was announced that new judge Motsi Mabuse would take over from ballerina Goodman’s replacement Darcey Bussell, who stepped down from the judging panel after seven years.

Mabuse will be joined by returning judges Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas and Bruno Tonioli with Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman on presenting duties once again.

Find the full list of this year’s contestants here.