Tilly Ramsay will be smiling again in her next Strictly Come Dancing performance, after calling out body-shaming comments.
The 19-year-old, daughter of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, hit out at LBC presenter Steve Allen on Instagram, after he described her as ‘chubby’ and said he was ‘bored’ of her on the show.
Appearing on today’s episode of Strictly: It Takes Two beside partner Nikita Kuzmin, she was questioned on a recording from the final moments of their latest performance when she asked whether she could ‘smile’ now.
‘It was definitely hard and it was uncomfortable,’ she told host Janette Manrara of the routine. ‘It really helped getting in the hair, the makeup and the dress. After the dress I was like, “You know what, I can do it. I just need to be able to do it again.”
‘I wasn’t sure when I’m allowed to break character but I forget we’re mic’d up and was like, “Can I smile now?” and everyone knew!’
Nikita continued: ‘Absolutely, last week was honestly emotionally a very hard week for both of us, to come back from the jive, because we also put so much effort into it and then it didn’t quite work out as well as we hoped it would.
‘I think it was a lot because we put so much effort, so many hours into it, because we really wanted to come back and come back strong.’
They insisted they will be coming back stronger, and will be returning to ballroom steps in their next performance.
The segment ended with Janette telling viewers that the teenager will be ‘smiling again’ now.
Tilly’s stint on the spin-off show comes after she hit back at Steve Allen for body-shaming her on his LBC radio show, stating that his words were a ‘step too far’.
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Directing her statement at the 67-year-old, who called her a ‘chubby little thing’, she said: ‘Steve please feel free [to] voice your opinions however I draw the line at commenting on my appearance.
‘This isn’t the first and definitely won’t be the last comment made about my appearance and I accept that and I’m learning to accept myself,’ she told followers, before urging everyone to remember that their words have consequences.
‘But please remember that words can hurt and at the end of the day I am only 19 and I’m so grateful for all the amazing opportunities I have been able to take part in and I understand that being in the public eye obviously comes with its own repercussions and I’ve been aware of this from a young age,’ she added.
‘However I won’t tolerate people that think it’s okay to publicly comment and scrutinise anyone’s weight and appearance. Love Tilly xx.’
Strictly: It Takes Two continues on weekdays at 6.30pm on BBC Two.
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