It’s been reported today that TV presenter Fern Britton has been BANNED from rehearsing for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing because the show’s bosses reckon her participation in the show’s Christmas specials has given her an “unfair advantage.”

So while the rest of this year’s celebrity contestants have been packing in as much training and rehearsal time as they can, Fern and her pro-dance partner Artem Chigvintsev have had to “hold fire” and can only watch from the sidelines.

Last night, Artem tweeted, “Have to wait till Wednesday to start training! Anticipation is killing me. Roll on.”

However, another Strictly contestant, Victoria Pendleton, is hoping to take it easy during training, fearing that if she does too much, a previous back injury could return…

Olympic ace Victoria, who is of course partnered with dance star Brendan Cole, told friends that she’s asked him to take her back troubles – which flared up during her Olympic training earlier this year when she was diagnosed with an inflammatory condition – into consideration during their training schedule.

A show insider added to TV Biz, “Victoria is a very driven competitor but she also has to be careful. She doesn’t want to do herself any more damage.

“After they were paired, she sat Brendan down and told him about her back problems. He promised to take them into consideration…

“But going easy on her doesn’t worry him because he knows she demands so much of herself.”

However, despite her back problems, Victoria is one of the bookies’ top faves to win this year’s show, with odds of 15/2. Her fellow competitor Jerry Hall has considerably lower odds, and some bookies reckon she could leave the contest early.

As we reported recently, her Strictly partner Anton du Beke allegedly said he was “furious” to have been paired with Jerry, who he considers to be “high maintenance.”

And apparently, he’s not overly impressed that Texan model Jerry smokes like a chimney either.

A show insider revealed, “Jerry arrived in a chauffeur-driven limousine at 11.30am.

“By 11.55am she emerged to take her first fag break.”

Do you think Jerry will last on the show, or will she leave early?