Strictly Come Dancing’s Nikita Kuzmin has broken his silence on the scandal-ridden BBC series ahead of its first live show.

During Saturday’s instalment of BBC Breakfast, professional dancer Nikita, 26, appeared as a guest on the daytime programme alongside his dance partner Sam Quek, 35.

During a backstage interview, Nikita was asked whether all of the recent bullying allegations have cast a ‘shadow’ for him.

To which Nikita positively responded with: ‘I don’t think so no’.

His dance partner Sam said: ‘I’ve had the best time so far, I can’t even think of it to get any better than what it is now.’

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Strictly Come Dancing’s Nikita Kuzmin has broken his silence on the scandal-ridden BBC series ahead of its first live show

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It all began last October when actress Amanda Abbington unexpectedly quit the show before claiming that her partner Giovanni Pernice was abusive towards her (pictured in 2023)

‘Every experience I’ve had since I’ve been here has been top notch and I think everyone feels the same here.’

The 20th-anniversary series of Strictly has been somewhat tainted after the BBC show was embroiled in scandal in a year plagued with controversy.

And the BBC failed to address the scandal during the launch episode despite the results of the misconduct investigation still pending.

It all began last October when actress Amanda Abbington unexpectedly quit the show before claiming that her partner Giovanni Pernice was abusive towards her.

The Sherlock actress has made a series of accusations about Giovanni’s teaching methods and has described his behaviour as ‘unnecessary, abusive, cruel and mean’. He strongly denies all of the claims.

Giovanni, 33, was suspended while a BBC probe is underway over allegations made by Amanda and two other former celebrity partners.

With the report into his misconduct due any day now, Amanda has reportedly been left deeply disappointed with the BBC bosses over fears they’re ‘protecting’ the dancer amid the bullying probe.

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During Saturday’s instalment of BBC Breakfast , professional dancer Nikita, 26, appeared as a guest on the daytime programme alongside his dance partner Sam Quek, 35

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The 20th-anniversary series of Strictly has been somewhat tainted after the BBC show was embroiled in scandal in a year plagued with controversy (the 2024 contestants pictured)

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After Giovanni, the show was hit with a fresh wave of scandal when Graziano Di Prima was sacked in July for ‘ kicking’ his partner Love Island star Zara McDermott (both pictured in 2023)

There have been high-level meetings among BBC bosses as they navigate how to deliver their findings as they fear the looming possibility of legal action from either Amanda or Giovanni if either is disappointed by the outcome.

After Giovanni, the show was hit with a fresh wave of scandal when Graziano Di Prima was sacked in July for ‘kicking’ his partner Love Island star Zara McDermott.

Zara explained she didn’t report the incidents at the time as she was ‘scared’ of backlash.

Instead, it was junior production staff who came forward to share what they had witnessed as the investigation into pro dancer Giovanni was taking place.

Zara told her followers that while much of her time on Strictly ‘was everything I could have dreamt of’ inside the training room with Graziano there were ‘particular incidents which are incredibly distressing‘.

Strictly Come Dancing’s first live show airs on Saturday at 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer. 

Strictly Come Dancing 2024: Who are the couples?

Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell 

JB Gill and Amy Dowden MBE 

Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtuk

Paul Merson and Karen Hauer 

Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał

Sam Quek MBE and Nikita Kuzmin

Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola 

Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones

Punam Krishan and Gorka Márquez 

Wynne Evans and Katya Jones

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Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec 

Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas

Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe 

Tom Dean MBE and Nadiya Bychkova

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Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu

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