Strictly Come Dancing’s Dianne Buswell has been forced to hit back at cruel rumours surrounding her pregnancy after it was announced that Stefan Dennis has quit the BBC competition.
Neighbours legend Stefan, 66, pulled out of the third live show of the series due to medical reasons, but just days after his return to the ballroom, it was announced that he would be pulling out of the show completely due to injury. He’s become the third star to quit this series after Kristian Nairn and Dani Dyer, who were replaced by Lewis Cope and Amber Davies, respectively.
After the news of Stefan’s departure, Dianne – who is making history as the first pregnant star on Strictly – has had to shut down nasty rumours from trolls. She took to Instagram to share one comment from a viewer which read: “To be honest I saw this coming, Diane couldn’t really continue especially when she gets bigger, bless her. She’s a brilliant dancer and she is one of my favourites sorry to say but I think this was planned to keep her and baby safe, just my thought.”
Hitting hack on her Instagram Stories, Dianne, who is expecting her first child with partner and YouTube star Joe Sugg, said in response: “I sound like a broken record but I’m seeing a bit of this floating around again! I know people say ignore it but actually why should I.
“I will speak up… I would love nothing more than to keep dancing this week next week the week after that so so on and so forth. In fact I have more energy this year than I did this time last year.”
She added: “Please respect Stefan who is extremely gutted to not be able to dance and stop presuming this was a set up! because believe me we would if we could!”
This comes after Dianne, 36, paid tribute to her dance partner, sharing: “Stefo I’m so sorry our strictly journey was cut short just as that confidence was starting to grow. But you can walk away with your head held high. You can go home to your wonderful wife put your hand out and say would you like to cha cha cha with me.
“The main reason for being on this show was to be able to dance with her and you can certainly do that now. You are the kindest human I have ever worked with and I can always say I got to dance with the iconic neighbours legend Stefan Dennis or as my dad calls ya Paul Robertson.”
Stefan’s departure announcement had earlier read: “This Morning, I woke up to the most disappointing day of my time in my Strictly journey.
“Just when I had finally gained the confidence to do well with my dancing in the comp and achieve more great dances along the way, I was told that on Saturday, I had torn my calf so significantly that I am now forced to withdraw from the show.”