Bruno Tonioli to miss Strictly judging this weekend

Bruno Tonioli will not appear on the Strictly Come Dancing shows on Saturday and Sunday due to “a very busy work schedule”.

The BBC have announced that judge Bruno Tonioli is to miss his first Strictly Come Dancing since the show started ‘due to a very busy work schedule’.

The reason for missing the live Strictly which airs on Saturday night, with the Sunday outing recorded shortly afterwards on the same evening, has been put down to a clash of schedules with the ABC stateside version of the show, Dancing With The Stars, which Tonioli also appears on.

While Bruno is giving it large over in America here on BBC One fellow judges Craig Revel Horwood and Darcey Bussell will carry on as usual with new head judge Shirley Ballas providing the critic and studio scoring without a stand-in guest judge.

Some of Bruno’s comments have caused controversy this series with former Strictly pro James Jordan criticising the flamboyant Italian judge for suggesting that Davood Ghadami and his partner Nadiya Bychkova – both of whom are in relationships – looked like they were dancing their way to the bedroom.

Ballas, taking over from show favourite Len Goodman, has been met with a mixed reaction from viewers with some calling her ‘bossy’ and picking up on her ‘inconsistent’ scoring. The ‘Queen of Latin’ has also been accused of having a vendetta against contestant Charlotte Hawkins whose name she couldn’t get right during one critique.

Bruno has been a fixture on the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel since the first series in 2004.