Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner has taken a swipe at BBC’s new show The Greatest Dancer.
Both dance based competitions will be back next month, and Jason doesn’t think much of the BBC series.
The Greatest Dancer, fronted by Diversity star Jordan Banjo and BGT judge Alesha Dixon, feature a host of talent from across the world of dance from ballet to jazz and hip hop to Bollywood as they give the performances of their lives.
They’ll be competing to be named The Greatest Dancer, with a prize including £50,000 and a performance on fellow BBC dance competition Strictly Come Dancing.
The show will feature a trio of so-called ‘dance captains’: Strictly pro Oti Mabuse, singer Cheryl and Broadway and Glee star Matthew Morrison.
But Jason doesn’t think much of it.
The ever critical ice judge told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “The judging line up on that is questionable as well…what’s her dance background? Where is her dance background?”
He claimed: “She went to Royal Ballet School that you pay for, an extortionate amount to go to because mum and dad just want to drop you off somewhere for the holidays.”
While The Greatest Dancer airs on Saturday nights on BBC One, Dancing On Ice will be back on ITV on Sunday evenings.
A new batch of 12 celebrity contestants will be taking part, ranging from X Factor singer Saara Aalto to TOWIE’s Gemma Collins.
And Jason has vowed to be his usual blunt self.
“Well you all know what I do and I’m true to my role on the panel and that is I tell the truth,” he said. “If she can’t handle the truth, if they can’t see that what I’m giving them is constructive criticism to actually improve instead of wrapping them in cotton wool and saying how fabulous you are darling air kiss air kiss, that’s not how it works.
“Either they can handle criticism or they can’t and the ones who can’t handle the criticism usually don’t do very well and are often get voted off.”
