Susanna Reid pleads with Shirley Ballas not to quit Strictly after horrifying troll abuse

Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley have urged Shirley Ballas not to quit Strictly Come Dancing after the head judge revealed how ‘low’ trolling messages made her feel.

During a recent interview, Shirley, 62, said that she ‘felt the abuse snowballed out of control’ during the latest season of the BBC show, with some of the criticism levelled at her concerning the contestants that she chose to send home.

‘Last year I was struggling. It wasn’t just a little bit, it was a lot – the majority of it was in silence,’ she said.

The dancer said that she received thousands of ‘truly awful’ messages, adding that the BBC was ‘brilliant’ at checking in on her and offering her support.

When asked by The Mirror if she would consider quitting Strictly, Shirley responded: ‘It was a difficult series, I’ll leave it at that,’ before adding: ‘Will I go back to Strictly? I always take one step at a time.’

On Monday’s Good Morning Britain, Richard and Susanna were joined by TV and radio presenter Vick Hope to discuss Shirley insinuating that she could step down from her role.

Susanna urged Shirley not to read the horrible comments from trolls online (Picture: ITV/BBC)

Addressing the messages from trolls, Richard, 66, remarked: ‘She shouldn’t read them. What’s the point?’

Vick, 33, who competed on Strictly in 2018, added: ‘Honestly, it never ceases to amaze me how angry people can get about a dancing show. It’s a dancing show – it’s supposed to be joyful! ‘

Insisting that the series isn’t the ‘real world’, Richard stated: ‘Anyway, well I hope you don’t leave Shirley, ‘cause I think you’re great.’

Delivering some key advice, Susanna, 52, chimed in to say: ‘Never read the comments, honestly. It’s like swimming in a sewer, and none of us would choose to do that!’

Richard and Susanna were joined by Vick to discuss Shirley’s comments (Picture: ITV/GMB)

Richard then brought up a comment that Graham Norton said the other day, when the TV host said that ‘in the old days before social media, you couldn’t hear people shouting at the television, but Twitter means you can actually now hear people shouting loony stuff at the television screen’.

Susanna replied: ‘I think it’s horrible. If the kinds of things she’s receiving is that offensive, it should be referred obviously to the police, if it’s threatening in any way.’

‘Don’t read it, Shirley you don’t need to,’ Richard added, as Susanna pleaded: ‘We love you Shirley, don’t go.’

Shirley first joined Strictly in 2017, taking over as head judge after Len Goodman stepped down.

She sits on the panel with Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke, having previously also worked with Bruno Tonioli and Darcey Bussell on the programme.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.

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