Strictly's Layton Williams forced to deny 'fix' claims before series starts

13 August 2023 , 20:11

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Strictly's Layton Williams forced to deny 'fix' claims before series starts

Strictly Come Dancing 2023 star Layton Williams has been forced to firmly shut down claims of a 'fix' and accusations that he has an 'unfair advantage' over other Strictly stars.

Layton comes from a performing background, which many Strictly fans have questioned as they believe he could have 'studied' dance giving him an edge over his fellow contestants before they battle it out on the dancefloor. However, the TV star has now spoken out firmly on social media as he blasted speculation from Twitter users who debated whether he would have studied Latin or Ballroom dance during his performing career.

Strictly Come Dancing star Layton Williams has been forced to respond to claims that he has an 'unfair advantage' over his fellow Strictly contestants (Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

The star says he's never studied latin or ballroom dance before he began training for Strictly (Hoda Davaine/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Layton, who has performed in the musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, responded to a tweet which read: "Not a dance expert as such but I am a dancer and know for a fact he will have studied ballroom and/or Latin to some degree". In response, Layton wasted no time clarifying as he replied: "Lemme clear up this *fact* real quick. I had my 1st introduction to Ballroom & Latin class in rehearsals yesterday (along with the rest of the @bbcstrictly cast) and it was so much fun xxx".

A troll then waded in to respond as it wrote: "Here’s hoping you get dumped out week one." A sassy Layton then firmly shut down the nasty tweet as he sweetly replied: "No one gets voted out week 1 luckily." During his performing career, Layton has performed in musicals and productions including playing the lead in Billy Elliot at the age of just 12 before going on to star in other stage productions including Hairspray and Rent.

Layton has a performing background including landing the lead role in Billy Elliot musical aged 12 (Getty Images)

Whilst Layton has some dance experience to help him out during his time on Strictly, the TV star has spoken out about being "pretty nervous" due to not being professionally trained. Speaking on The One Show, Layton spoke about how his dance skills will transfer to the ballroom as he said: "Well I hope they’ll transfer in some ways but also I’m aware that potentially they may come in the way. I’m quite a perfectionist when it comes to dancing and I’m not trained in ballroom and Latin so I hope I’ll feel confident but I’m pretty nervous."

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The Bad Education actor was one of the first names to be announced for the 2023 series and joins a host of famous faces this year including actor Les Dennis, tennis player Annabel Croft, former EastEnders star Nigel Harman, current BBC soap star Bobby Brazier, World and Paralympic Champion Jody Cundy, Coronation Street star Ellie Leach, BBC Asian Network’s Breakfast show presenter Nikita Kanda, former Emmerdale star Adam Thomas, Love Island star Zara McDermott, Irish TV presenter Angela Scanlon, British-Congolese comedian Eddie Kadi and Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy. Angela Rippon, who will be 79 when she takes to the dance floor later this year, was also revealed on The One Show alongside Sherlock star Amanda Abbington.

Niamh Spence