Olympic Athlete Jade Johnson has been forced to quit BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, after sustaining a leg injury last week. Jade decided to leave the show over worries that the torn ligament would cause her problems in her sports career.

“I am so, so upset that I am not able to dance tonight. It just makes me see what a wonderful time I’ve had and how much I’m going to miss it,” she said.

“It’s very emotional. Just sitting here is really hard for me. It’s quite sore but it’s fine,” added Jade about her crocked
knee.

A BBC1 insider told The Daily Star: “Jade was really upset. She left it until the last moment to make her decision but she had to think about her career – there was no way she could risk any long-term damage to her knee.”

BBC bosses have revealed that Bruce Forsyth will be well enough to return to Strictly Come Dancing tomorrow night.

The elderly TV presenter was struck down with flu last week and asked pal Ronnie Corbett to co-present the show in his place.

But is it a good idea to bring Brucie back after Strictly got its highest ratings of the year last weekend. Surely that wasn’t a coincidence?

Strictly Come Dancing competitor Ricky Whittle has revealed that he faced so much racist bullying as a child, that he often wished he was white.

Whittle faced the worst of his bullying when his dad was stationed in an RAF base in Northern Ireland. He claimed that he “must have been one of the first black people in the whole country”.

Speaking to 1Xtra, he explained: “Growing up at that time, I didn’t want to be black because I was bullied and I’d tell my mum that I wanted to be white like everyone else at school.

“She just said, ‘Listen, when you’re older you’re going to really appreciate this. You don’t want to be the same as everyone else, you want to be different and you want to be unique’. It has happened that way and I’m enjoying my culture and my background.”

Whittle continued: “I don’t think there is a ‘normal’ British person now. I think it was just the fact that I was young and kids do point out differences when they’re younger and latch on to those things.

“I don’t think [bullying is] worse if it’s racism or whether it’s about your weight or your glasses, because they’re all things you can’t change, it’s who you are.”

One of the all time greats, Dame Shirley Bassey, has been revealed as the guest for this Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Dame Shirley will be performing ‘This Time’, written by Gary Barlow. Judge, Alesha Dixon, is sure to be keen to compare notes with the veteran singer as her new single was also penned by the Take That star.

Dame Shirley rarely performs on live TV, but she will be performing live on Strictly for the first time in years. A huge Strictly Come Dancing fan, Dame Shirley is also an old friend of Strictly’s host Bruce Forsyth and the BBC are delighted to have her on the show.

Chrola are back to their normal cuddly selves, almost – Ola (Ole Jordan) was so excited to get through following such a mixed reaction from the judges, Chris (Matador Man) is normally only grumpy at their Witching Hour, 5pm. Deal with it, commands Ola! Not finding the VW easy – he doesn’t turn enough *eek* “Are you going to the final?” asks Claudia. “To watch?” asks Chris to general background laughter.

A quick guide to judging: The Len Commandments – 1) Thou shalt keep on time 2) Thou shalt not do lifts 3) Thou must have chemistry – off the floor as well as on 4) Thou shalt have co-ordination 5) Thou shalt entertain!

James (full of facts) with the midweek report – concise, excellent, positive critique – he’s very good. Claudia shows us his awesome lift with Kristina on Saturday, just for the sheer hell of it! Jade is being assessed day by day, no training today. The Pro’s get injured but they’re used to it – Ola broke his nose on the dance floor once! Alian foxtrot looks lovely, needs to work on footwork, needs to soften posture; Vinalie samba, technical stuff needs work but this could be another good dance for her personality-wise; Rickin tango and he’ll be able to sell it, not into the floor enough though – early days; Ricalie foxtrot American Smooth, looking great already but watch your step! Team Cola – needs to drive more and believe in himself.

Forums Q&A: What do you like on toast? James – baked beans; Ricky G – pate or cheese; Ian – cheese, peanut butter; Craig – yeast extract; Cat person, dog person, neither or both? James – dog; Nat L – dog; Erin – Cat; Ricky W – dog; Laila – dog; Craig – dog; Katya – cat; Ian – both; Chris – dog; Who is your celebrity crush? Nat L – Matthew McConaghey; Erin – Len; Ricky G – wife Hannah Waterman (aw!) Katya – Jude Law; James – Ola (more aws!) Craig – Gethin Jones; Anton – Penelope Cruz; Ricky G – Tess Daly; Ian – Katherine Jenkins.

Lainton on the sofa, ankle on a cushion. Laila (Feeling the strain) Brucie went and we all decided to follow! Anton (a great support) is very proud that she had a go. Took a while to get into the rumba but once she did was really looking forward to it, she felt guilty though with Ricky and Phil in the dance off when she was below them on the leaderboard. Waltzing in sparkly Ug boots this week!

Cool-ish dance moves to end! Have you done the quiz this week? No? Try it here: Questions – and then check out the dancer with the answers below!

And the lovely Katya also gives you her top three tips to Tango!

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY THE LOVELY JAYE, CHECK OUT HER OWN BLOG HERE.

Lord Alan Sugar has blasted the Conservative party for putting pressure on the BBC to delay his show. Sugar’s Apprentice reality TV show usually airs in March, however due to his new role as ‘Business Tsar’ and possible conflicts with the 2010 general election, the BBC have pushed it back to June next year.

Lord Sugar told The Mirror: “They’ve delayed it for some political reason which is a bit of a joke in my opinion.

“Somebody from the Tory party complained to the BBC about me being an adviser to the Government and the result is that the television programme can’t be transmitted until the General Election is over.

“It is very frustrating because the programme itself has got nothing in it that is political at all, but unfortunately the BBC are frightened of the Tory party.

“They’ve been bullied by the Tory party and they can’t stand up to common sense.”

Joe Calzaghe has claimed that he was put out of Strictly Come Dancing, due to a derogatory comment he made about Craig Kelly.

Joe told The Sun: “It was something I said about Craig to producers. I won’t say what it was, but it was worse than a swear word.

“It was odd that we were in the bottom two for four weeks running, but that the public kept voting for us.

“We had the highest number of votes, the producers told us – but then all of a sudden we lost out with the judges.

“Something was up. You can say Strictly Come Dancing is a fix.”

A Strictly spokesman said: “Any suggestion the show is fixed is ridiculous.”

Are you Andrew Lloyd Webber’s next leading lady? Could you be his Dorothy in the new West End production of The Wizard of Oz?

Do you want to follow in the footsteps of previous winners Connie Fisher, Lee Mead and Jodie Prenger? If yes – then you are in luck because the BBC has just opened applications for their newest reality TV show ‘Over The Rainbow.’

Auditions are open to everyone, no matter how much or how little experience you have and nationwide auditions for Dorothy begin in January 2010.

All applicants must have been aged 16 or over by 26 June 2009.

Apply now to book your place

Mariah Carey has reportedly cancelled a performance on Strictly Come Dancing this weekend but has already pre-recorded her song for The X Factor.

A BBC spokesman said: “We had hoped to have Mariah Carey on the show but her schedule changed and made it impossible.”

However, The Daily Mail reports that Mariah actually pulled out because Simon Cowell insisted that she could only appear on one of the shows.

A source told the newspaper that BBC executives felt that Carey had been “completely unprofessional”in cancelling at the last minute and were forced to line up The Jersey Boys instad..

Outgoing Strictly Come Dancing competitor Phil Tufnell has admitted that whilst he loved being on the BBC show, he will be glad to go back to his own life.

Phil told The Sun:

“It’s a bit of a shame not to be involved but it’s lovely to get back into the swing of normal life.

“You get completely absorbed by it. It is a bit of a relief, tinged with some sadness.

“I don’t want to be a professional dancer so I went in there to enjoy myself.

“I worked hard and learned to dance but I had 20 years of playing for my country and that was my career.”

He added: “I’m glad that I can put my feet up. But now my wife Dawn wants to learn how to ballroom dance!”