Alexandra Burke addresses claims that Strictly has a ‘racism’ problem

Alexandra Burke has addressed recent claims that Strictly Come Dancing has a problem with racism.

The singer and contestant said that she doesn't think the show has any kind of issue and that such claims are wrong. Speaking on the Victoria Derbyshire Show, she said:

“I don’t think that’s true at all. “Those kinds of accusations against amazing shows like this I think are wrong."

The claims come after non-white contestants Aston Merrygold and Chizzy Akudolu were both voted off the show to the shock of many viewers. Similar criticisms were made when the series aired last year too when Melvin Odoom, Tameka Empson, and Naga Munchetty were voted off in the show's early stages. Burke also gave some insight into her own experience of being a black woman in the entertainment industry. She suggested that she had not been discriminated against because of the colour of her skin and called her time in the industry "wonderful."

“For a black person who is in the industry (...) I’ve had a wonderful nine years of being in this industry and hoping to achieve more with hard work and determination. “I don’t think it comes down to colour, I don’t see colour when I see music or TV shows. "I think that’s so important not to see that because at the end of the day we might be all different colours but we’re all the same, we’re all human."

Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturdays and Sundays on BBC1.