Strictly's Shirley Ballas almost quit career after horror 'bullying'

Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas shared her experiences of terrible "bullying" in the dance industry that nearly ended her career before she joined the BBC show. The 64 year old head judge has been a key part of the star-studded judging panel since she joined the popular ballroom programme back in 2017.

Despite her success on the show, it hasn't always been smooth sailing for Shirley, as she revealed on the It Can't Just Be Me podcast. Hosted by Channel 4 presenter Anna Richardson, Shirley opened up about the intense bullying she faced from colleagues at the height of her judging career.

She told listeners: "In 2015, 2016 and 2017, I was being badly bullied in an industry - my industry is primarily run by men - and they were stopping my work. So I was at the very, very top of the tree, teaching all the top competitors in the world.

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"And then these men at the top started to stop my work. I don't know whether they didn't like it that I was becoming quite a 'somebody' in the industry, a great teacher or whatever. I talked to my mother about it and she said, 'It's your ego talking, Shirley. You're just nervous about losing all these couples'. She said, 'Teach beginners.'"

Shirley shared that her mum gave her some wise words when she was feeling down: "It's your ego talking, Shirley. You're just nervous about losing all these couples". Her mum suggested she start teaching beginners.

Then Shirley opened up about the tough time, describing it as "devastating" before Strictly came along.

She admitted feeling really low before getting a surprise job offer: "For me, it was quite devastating at the time, and then Strictly came along out of the blue."

Shirley had never worked in TV before but got a big chance: "I'd never done a day's work in television in my life. You know, I did have the qualifications, but I didn't have the behind the camera qualifications, if you like." She explained how she had no TV experience but still landed a great role.

The dance star said tough times led to a new beginning: "From this bullying and this losing all my work and thinking to myself, 'I have to start from scratch now', came this job."

Shirley told listeners to stay hopeful because good things can happen. She encouraged people to keep going even when things get hard: "So sometimes, we're derailed a little bit on the train. We're feeling bad about everything, and then an opportunity comes along, and then we can embrace it."

Shirley ended with some positive advice: "So sometimes, we're derailed a little bit on the train. We're feeling bad about everything, and then an opportunity comes along, and then we can embrace it."