Strictly Come Dancing star and Channel 4 journalist Krishnan Guru-Murthy has labelled the BBC competition “sexist” just months after taking part in the series.
Guru-Murthy took part in last year’s show and was partnered with one of the newest professionals to join, Lauren Oakley. He quickly became a fan-favourite and made it to week eight.
The 53-year-old narrowly missed out on taking part in the much-anticipated Blackpool episode, and later stated in a social media video that the departure had left him “more emotional than I ever imagined,” adding that he “basically cried for a week”.
However, just months on from the experience, the broadcaster has slammed the show for having men taking the lead during dances, stating the tradition should "change".
He also claimed that most of the contestants who go on to become stars after Strictly “tend to be men”.
It came during his appearance on Gabby Logan’s podcast, The Mid-Point, on Wednesday, where he hit out at supposed sexism on the show.
The Channel 4 star spoke out about Strictly
Getty
After addressing the subject of sexism in Strictly, he continued: “I imagine much more for women than for men, to be honest, because it is such a sort of a male-dominated thing.
“The man leads. And I found it quite difficult to get my head around that, actually, for a while because it is a really old-fashioned, male-dominated, sexist kind of thing."
Logan pointed out how the BBC show introduced same-sex couples in the last few years, but Guru-Murthy responded: “Yes, although I still think there's something quite old-fashioned about the whole thing.
“I think also in terms of who becomes the star and who's following it and all that kind of stuff, I think it's quite male-dominated in a way that really should still change.
The newsreader argued the show should 'change'
BBC
"You think about the people who - the professionals who go through Strictly and then who get careers elsewhere, it tends to be the men."
Elsewhere, the newsreader was asked by Logan how he felt about the physical intimacy on the show as she remarked: “That whole dynamic of being with somebody, you get to your 50s, you don't spend that much time with another woman when you've been married for 20-odd years, do you? As much as you do on Strictly.”
He replied: “It's an interesting dynamic - come here and push your groin into mine on day one!”
“That physical intimacy… that you've got to get over very, very quickly,” Logan went on, adding: “Because they touch you - now this is obviously… I've got to be careful how I say this, and times have changed since 2007 when I did Strictly.
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The Channel 4 journalist made it to week eight of Strictly
Getty
“But they touch you in a way that in no other job in the world could you get away with touching somebody, but it's all part of the job.”
Guru-Murthy admitted: “That was something, I was like, 'Oh, hello, so you smoke then?' I was a bit like that on day one!”
The journalist joined Channel 4 News back in 1998, making him the channel's second-longest-serving newsreader after Jon Snow.