Alison Hammond, 44, secured 10th place on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2014 with her professional dance partner Aljaž Škorjanec, 29, but the BBC show has changed a lot since then. Judge Dame Darcey Bussell stunned fans when she announced her plans to step down from the judging panel this year, and was later replaced by professional dancer Oti Mabuse’s, 29, sister, Motsi Mabuse, 38. Some fans aired their disappointment about the ballerina’s departure in response to her statement on Twitter, with one writing: “Well that’s the very best bit of Strictly gone!” Another person agreed: “Wish you well in all your dreams but unless Anton or Brendan take your role the show will limp along.”
“No idea how they will replace you Darcey! Sad news but GO GET EM,” a third viewer replied.(sic)
However, in spite of some negative reactions from viewers to the dance competition’s updates, the former Big Brother star revealed she was “excited” to see the series go in a different direction.
Opening up about the programme exclusively to Express.co.uk, Alison questioned why viewers were “so upset” about the changes.
The former contestant said: “It’s exciting! Change is good, there’s nothing wrong with change, I don’t know why people get so upset about it.
“I think we get scared about change, but change it up, it’s going to be great.”
Addressing new judge Motsi, Alison admitted she was wondering how the dynamic will work when her sister Oti receives feedback from the panel.
The star added: “I’m really excited to see what the new judge is like. Oh my God how is she going to judge her sister?
“I wouldn’t care less if it was my sister – she’d be getting 10s, I don’t care what anyone says, of course she’s getting 10s, I taught her everything that she knows!”
Alison went on to reflect on her experience on the show and insisted she will be watching this year.
The TV personality explained: “I can’t not watch it, it’s just one of those shows.
“I have to watch Aljaž because obviously I was paired with him.
“I’ll be watching it this year and keeping my eye on a bit of Jamie Laing maybe or Alex Scott. Dev might be good, he’s going to have a bit of musicality.
“I quite like when they get sports people like James Cracknell. I like to see whether they’ve got a bit of rhythm which can translate into dancing because it is hard.”
Speaking out on her stint in the dance competition, Alison continued: “People go in thinking it’s going to be easy, but it’s tough man!
“It’s so much fun, it’s like happy tough. You have such a laugh and you get to do the tour after as well, the fun just continues.”
Alison is currently making fans aware about the FCA’s PPI deadline, which is set for tonight.
Speaking about what the campaign means to her, the presenter said: “It’s the final countdown to the FCA’s PPI deadline and I want the nation to know it’s their last chance to make a decision about whether or not to claim back money for PPI.
“Now don’t mess around, people have until 11.59pm on the 29 August 2019 to make a complaint to their provider, so do it now!”
Alison added: “My brother has just made his claim. He had store cards and a mortgage and finance on his car and he just got £7,000, I couldn’t believe it.
“I was thinking back and wondering, have I got anything? I remember having a car loan at the time but I couldn’t remember for the life of me who the provider was, but if you go on the FCA website they basically hold your hand.”
Visit fca.org.uk/ppi before the deadline at 11.59pm tonight to submit a PPI complaint.
