Former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer AJ Pritchard has sparked backlash from viewers after making his presenting debut on GB News. The 31-year-old hosted The Saturday Five on Saturday, October 3, six years after leaving the BBC dance show.
Strictly career and exit
AJ first appeared as a pro dancer on Strictly in 2016, partnered with Olympic artistic gymnast Claudia Fragapane. The pair were eliminated in the semi-finals, finishing in fourth place overall. He was later paired with Mollie King, Lauren Steadman, and Saffron Barker.
In 2020, AJ announced he was quitting the series. A statement on X at the time read: "After four years on Strictly Come Dancing, AJ has decided the time is right to leave the show and follow his dreams to explore opportunities in the presenting world alongside his brother Curtis."
The statement continued: "AJ would like to thank the team at Strictly and everyone at the BBC for giving him such a brilliant opportunity. AJ would also like to send his love and gratitude to all who have followed him and supported his career. He is excited for you all to join him on the next chapter of his journey."
Backlash over new role
The show opened with a segment on shoplifting, during which AJ said: "I think the worrying thing [is] if you live or work in a city, you see it all the time. Somebody walks into a shop, they pick up their meal deal, they fill their pockets with something, and they walk out."
He added: "Nobody stops them. Nothing seems to happen. And you might think, 'It's only a few pounds; what difference does it really make?' But think of this, thousands of times, every single shop, every single day, and suddenly, it's not so petty at all."
It did not take long for viewers to issue complaints after AJ's appearance. "Why the f*** is he on this channel?" one person fumed on X. Another added: "Since when was a dancing professional a journalist?" A third said: "AJ keeps on finding new ways to disappoint people and end his time in the public eye."
Someone else commented: "If you didn't think anything AJ Pritchard did could be worse than his acting, allow me to introduce you to his segment on GB News." A fifth viewer echoed the sentiment, saying: "What a disappointment. That's what's left of your career down the plughole."
Support and earlier controversy
Meanwhile, there were some fans who shared their support. "How brilliant is @Aj11Ace what a lovely presenter!" one person wrote.
This comes after AJ, who recently appeared on Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro, left many of his former Strictly co-stars frustrated when he claimed the BBC show needed to hire more British dancers. Responding to the comments, Oti Mabuse previously said he "might have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way".
Karen Hauer, who left Strictly earlier this year, added: "You don't hear Americans say we need only Americans. We're all immigrants, we're all doing the best that we can and we're all gonna take the opportunities that we can. So yeah, it was a little bit low of him to say that. Don't say that."
Strictly Come Dancing is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
