Thomas Skinner in his official Strictly press photoThomas Skinner has apologised for his conduct at the press launch of this year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing.
On Tuesday, Thomas and his Strictly co-stars took part in a round-table interview session where they were interviewed in pairs about the upcoming series for five minutes at a time by tables of journalists.
However, the former Apprentice candidate was reported to have stormed out of the event just a few minutes in.
Numerous outlets claimed on Tuesday that Thomas had also grabbed a journalist’s phone, which was being used to record him, after they asked: “What made you say yes to this amazing opportunity?”
“What’s that?” he was heard saying as he took the phone in question, reportedly walking out after declaring: “I’m not doing this.”
Thomas has now issued a statement on X as his way of “setting the record straight”, alleging that during the interview, he “happened to catch a glimpse” of the reporter’s phone screen “and saw numerous messages – not about Strictly, but about a personal story from my past”.
He continued: “I’ve been through some difficult times in my life, which I’ve worked hard to move on from. In that moment, seeing it there caught me off guard. I felt it was best to step away and gather myself.”
“This had nothing to do with the interviews or Strictly itself,” he insisted. “I’m sorry I picked up someone else’s phone and I don’t even know if the journalist realised their messages were visible, and I don’t want to suggest any bad intentions on their part.
“What I do want to say is how excited I am to be part of Strictly this year. I’m so grateful for all the love, kindness and support I’ve been shown so far. It means the world to me, and I can’t wait to give it my all on that dance floor.”
To set the record straight off the back of yesterday.
During one of the interviews, a journalist placed their phone on the table to record the conversation. I happened to catch a glimpse of the screen and saw numerous messages – not about Strictly, but about a personal story…
On Tuesday night, The Sun published an additional piece claiming that Strictly bosses were holding “crisis meetings” about Thomas’ future on the show in light of the latest headlines.
HuffPost UK contacted the BBC for comment on Wednesday morning, but did not receive a response.
Thomas first made a name for himself on the 15th season of The Apprentice, where he made it to week nine, and was famously given a rare “keep in touch” from Alan Sugar after being fired.
His casting on the upcoming series of Strictly was somewhat controversial due to past remarks that he made suggesting that London doesn’t “feel like London” anymore, criticising protestors on X and posing for a picture with Donald Trump’s vice president JD Vance.
Despite his protestations that he is not “far-right” or even “political”, he did previously voice his support for Trump in the lead-up to last year’s election, calling the president “brilliant”.
Strictly Come Dancing returns to our screens later this month.
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