Former GMTV presenter and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Fiona Phillips has blasted the BBC’s decision to sack Arlene Phillips.

Channel bosses announced last week that they would be replacing Arlene with former show winner Alesha Dixon and ballet star Darcey Russell.

Writing in her column for The Mirror, Phillips asked: “Since when was Alesha Dixon a choreographer? And who, outside the chattering class pastures of the broadsheets and the Royal Ballet, cares about Darcey Bussell?”

She continued: “Arlene Phillips, on the other hand, was an essential part of the winning Strictly Come Dancing formula – her caustic comments cutting through the ice of a wintry Saturday night, willing you to throw your takeaway at the TV screen as she lay into a well-meant but hopeless celebrity dancer.”

Fiona added that Arlene is “a decent person” and acted like “a caring mother figure” once the cameras stopped rolling.