BBC Addresses Claims Amber Davies' Strictly Charleston Included 'Copied' Moves
The BBC has responded to claims that Strictly Come Dancing finalist Amber Davies copied parts of her Musicals Week routine from the stage adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
Earlier this month, Amber and her professional partner Nikita Kuzmin danced a Charleston to Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ The Boat from Guys And Dolls during the show’s Musicals Week special.
Many eagle-eyed viewers and musical theatre fans noticed that during the routine, the duo included a series of steps that the former Love Island winner had previously performed in The Great Gatsby, which she starred in at the London Coliseum earlier this year.
The moves first went viral on TikTok after she performed it at the West End Live event in London’s Trafalgar Square on 21 June.
A BBC spokesperson told Metro that Amber’s Charleston was “a new routine choreographed for Strictly Come Dancing, which – as already discussed online – briefly paid tribute to The Great Gatsby as a nod to Musicals Week”.
It was also pointed out that the inclusion of the Great Gatsby moves were intended as a deliberate Easter egg for fans of Amber’s on-stage work, and the rest of the routine was predominantly made of entirely fresh choreography.
During a recent appearance on the Talk of the Townsend podcast with Nikita, Amber explained that it had been her idea to add the familiar choreography to their Charleston routine.
“I asked if I could just put a little Easter egg in, because obviously the New Money routine went viral on social media,” she said, joking that it would be “illegal” for her not to acknowledge the move during her Strictly performance.
Amber has been under scrutiny since she joined Strictly as a last-minute replacement for an injured Dani Dyer.
While she has consistently topped the leaderboard, some viewers have voiced the opinion that her experience performing on the West End gave her an unfair advantage over the other contestants.
The controversial addition of this recognisable move and the subsequent backlash may be why Amber landed in the bottom two in Musicals Week, as she was forced to dance off against another former theatre star, Lewis Cope.
“Guys, please.. It’s really just a television show. I wasn’t even supposed to be in the comp,” Amber pleaded on her Instagram stories after facing nasty online backlash in light of Lewis’ elimination.
“You have no idea what we put our mind and body through for this experience.. I’m really just trying my best with the opportunity that came to me. To anyone who has left a NICE comment, thank you,” she added.
During Saturday night’s live semi-final, Nikita told Amber: “You have had so much hate every single day from the moment you joined, you’ve had so much hate this week and yet, you came every single day into the training room with a big smile ignoring [the criticism] and just giving me love.
“You gave so much love, you always were kind, so caring, you care more about me when I’m supposed to care about you. You care about me every single day, you are such a lovely kind person,” he added before turning with a message to the audience watching at home.
“And I think sometimes, and I speak to the audience at home, just please be kind because it costs nothing and you [Amber] don’t deserve none of it. You only deserve love because without you I wouldn’t be here, and the show wouldn’t be as good as it is.”