Strictly star Amy Dowden tells Lorraine Kelly of her ‘heartbreak’ over ‘letting JB Gill down’

Strictly star Amy Dowden appeared on Lorraine today (November 7) to discuss her exit from the BBC dance show.

Amy was forced to step back from the 2024 competition, leaving partner JB Gill to dance with Lauren Oakley, after injuring herself.

The news came after her shock collapse backstage following her Halloween week dance.

Now, Amy has appeared on Lorraine, revealing that she thinks she’s “let JB down”.

Strictly news: Amy Dowden fights back tears on Lorraine

Amy told host Lorraine Kelly: “I’m heartbroken, I’m going to do my best not to cry. But I’m gutted it’s ended this way.

“I feel I’ve let JB down. And, to me, after the words ‘Amy, you’ve got cancer,’ this, like…,” she said, before Lorraine chipped in: “I know, because it would’ve been a year since you rang that bell. Which is such a big moment. And it would’ve been lovely if you could’ve done that on the show and I can see how upset you are, and of course you are, you’ve not let anybody down.

You never moan about it, you just get on with it. Then you get this blinking foot injury.

“We were just really worried about you, that was the thing,” Lorraine continued. “Everybody’s worried because we know that, you know, you’ve had cancer and you’ve been so astonishingly brave and you deal with Crohn’s disease. You never moan about it, you just get on with it. Then you get this blinking foot injury. A different one to the one you had before, right?” the host asked.

“Yes, so a completely different injury,” said Amy, before explaining that she needs “a couple of weeks of not hard impact on it basically”.

“It’s just so frustrating because on Saturday the 9th of November it’s a year since I rang the chemo bell,” said Amy. “That was a big moment,” Lorraine jumped in to comment. “And I had the samba, a joyful carnival happy dance,” said Amy. “I just knew it was going to be fantastic,” she added, before Lorraine asked more about JB’s Strictly dances going forward.

Amy thanked Lorraine for all her support during her health battles (Credit: ITV)

‘Bittersweet’

“JB’s got the best dances coming up because he has the most phenomenal body rhythm,” said Amy.

“Of course he has,” Lorraine said. “I don’t know…,” Amy started, before Lorraine jumped in to ask: “Did you do all the really hard ones with him to start with?”

“Yes, the cha cha,” said Amy. “Really hard?” asked Lorraine. “I wanted to get the rhumba out of the way,” Amy started, before Lorraine commented: “Because that’s the hard one right?” “Well it’s not that…,” said Amy, “but it is the hard one, and then you could have fun,” Lorraine commented, speaking over Amy again.

Lorraine then declared that watching the rest of the series would be “really bittersweet” for Amy.

Strictly star Amy thanks ‘the Lorraine family’ for its support

Kindly, she then praised the star’s braveness as she overcame cancer.

“Thank you to you because you reached out to me, the Lorraine family,” Amy commented.

“We were worried about you love,” Lorraine added, before handing Amy a pamper set and telling her to rest up and get herself better.

Viewers called Lorraine ‘rude’ for speaking over Amy (Credit: ITV)

Viewers react

However, viewers found that Lorraine’s kindness was somewhat overshadowed by the host “barely” letting Amy speak.

“Why does she never let her guests talk?” asked one viewer on the Lorraine hashtag. “How the hell is she still on TV?” they added.

“Coming across very condescending. Really not a good interview at all. Amy was barely allowed to speak,” said another.

“For the love of god please stop interrupting Amy and talking over her. So god damn rude!” said a third.

“Let Amy Dowden speak without interrupting the girl. Jeez, she’s the worst interviewer on TV,” another claimed.

Others, however, sent their love to Amy following the interview. “Bless Amy, she’s been through a lot,” one commented.