![\"Ola](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765590488_485_ola-and-james-jordan.jpg\")
His comments come as Lewis Cope’s exit last week prompted fury among viewers, many of whom had the actor and partner Katya Jones lauded as potential winners from the start.<\/p>\n
The former professional suggested giving the show’s dancers more solo performances to showcase high-level dancing, while keeping the celebrity competition more authentic.<\/p>\n
Mr Jordan also argued that the programme needs to commit to one direction or the other when it comes to casting.<\/p>\n
“Either go ‘Okay, we are going to pick people that are all got massive dance ability.’ It would be a great show, wouldn’t it? <\/p>\n
“But don’t have people competing against them that have never danced a step in their life,” he said.<\/p>\n
![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bbc-strictly-lewis-cope-and-katya-jones.jpg\")
He pointed to the American version of the show, where contestants are predominantly trained performers, as an example of taking a clear approach.<\/p>\n
“To compete against people that are fully trained artists. It’s unfair, so it just needs to be a more level playing field. Either go one way or the other,” Mr Jordan added.<\/p>\n
The former dancer noted that while Strictly has always featured some trained contestants, the standard has risen considerably over the years.<\/p>\n
Mr Jordan called for the pre-recorded video packages to become more genuine, revealing what actually happens during rehearsals.<\/p>\n
LATEST BBC STRICTLY DEVELOPMENTS<\/p>\n
![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765590488_745_james-jordan.jpg\")
“I want to see what’s going on more in the training room. Much more stuff in the training room. Show me them not getting on. <\/p>\n
“Show me them struggling. Show me them crying. Show me them laughing, joking, the banter,” he said.<\/p>\n
The former professional expressed frustration with the polished nature of current VTs, saying he wants to see “actuality” rather than heavily produced content.<\/p>\n
“Let’s get to know the real stuff that you can see. It’s not a VT which has been produced. I don’t want to see it being produced,” Mr Jordan explained.<\/p>\n
![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/bbc-strictly-ola-and-james-jordan.jpg\")
BBC Strictly: James Jordan and his wife Ola were once pros on the the show<\/p>\n
| PA<\/p>\n
He believes viewers would connect more with authentic behind-the-scenes footage showing the genuine dynamics between celebrity contestants and their partners.<\/p>\n
Mr Jordan also criticised the judging panel for sometimes overshadowing the performances themselves.<\/p>\n
“It just needs to be a little bit less about the judges, sometimes I just feel it’s a little bit panto now where back in the day, it wasn’t so much,” he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Lewis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/lewis-cope-and-katya-jones.png\")
BBC Strictly: Katya Jones was heartbroken to have been eliminated last week<\/p>\n
| <\/p>\n
BBC<\/p>\n
Despite his critiques, the former professional insisted his comments come from a place of affection for the programme.<\/p>\n
“I love the show. It sounds like I’m negative about Strictly, which I’m not. I love it,” Mr Jordan said.<\/p>\n
However, he believes the upcoming departure of presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman presents an ideal opportunity for the BBC to refresh the format.<\/p>\n
“I do think now that Tess and Claudia are leaving, it does need a little bit of an overhaul and come back really fresh next year,” he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Strictly Come Dancing professional James Jordan has called for significant changes to the BBC show’s format, arguing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1578,921,93,61,60,1580,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-188929","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-celebrity","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-strictly-come-dancing","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}