Strictly Come Dancing fans are fuming, after noticing an important part of the live shows is missing, branding it “a shame”, “sad” and even part of “a war”. They took to social media earlier this week, to complain that the Strictly band, led by Dave Arch, no longer features a brass section each week, with one fan writing: “What has happened to the wonderful band? Only a few playing now, no brass at all, such a shame!” The band accompanies the contestants and their pro partners during the live dances on each show. Now the BBC has exclusively confirmed to OK! that the brass section has been removed from most shows, due to budget cuts. A BBC spokesperson said: “We are proud to be one of the last remaining shows to still use a live band and singers and remain committed to doing so. We have increased the use of the Strictly Come Dancing House Band’s brass section in the current series for three live shows covering themed weeks such as movies and musicals and one other show to be confirmed – in addition to the annual visit to Blackpool – where classic song choices require more frequent use of these instruments. For editorial reasons, and to ensure the best value for money for audiences, we are unable to support a brass section for the entire series as we did pre-Covid.” Sadly, Strictly viewers are not impressed at the change. One viewer commented that, “the musicians appear to be playing with pre-recorded rhythm section, no brass players. Previous full band were amazing. At least the singers appear to be live. Sad demise. Not doing it for me this series.” Others were quick to agree, with one writing: “I noticed, not the same,” and another adding: “hope we don’t lose the band like the US version!” Others guessed the reason for a smaller band was thanks to budget constraints. “It’s always a war between cost and budget,” wrote one, adding, “perhaps they shouldn’t pay the celebs so much and keep an excellent band.” Another fan, who seemed to have insider knowledge, said: “They haven’t had a full band since before the pandemic. It was promised that it would return but due to budget cuts that hasn’t happened. They will have a full band for the theme nights, Blackpool and the final (I think). The music is recorded in advance by the band though and played as a backing track.” The BBC spokesperson confirmed that the last full series of Strictly that had a brass section within the house band for its entire run was 2019, but the show does still have a fully live 12-piece band in studio every week. The next live episode of Strictly takes place on Saturday and it is the first themed night of the series – Movie Night, which will feature the full band live in the studio. The dances have been revealed and include Toyah Willcox and partner Neil Jones dancing the Samba to Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid, Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell rocking out to the theme from Wayne’s World, and Pete Wicks and Jowitza Przystal also doing the Samba, to the George of the Jungle theme. Meanwhile Paul Merson and Karen Hauer will be Cha Cha Cha-ing to The Magnificent Seven theme, Wynne Evans and Katya Jones will be dancing to Mrs Doubtfire’s Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag, and there will be Viennese Waltzes from Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola to Hedwig’s Theme from the Harry Potter movies, and Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu to the tune of If I Can Dream from Elvis. Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe will Tango to One Night Only from Dreamgirls and Punam Krishan and Gorka Marquez are dancing the couples’ choice to Bole Chudiyan from Bollywood movie Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. That leaves Sam Quek and Nikita Kuzmin dancing the Paso Doble to Elevation from Tomb Raider, Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec doing the Rumba to What Was I Made For from Barbie, Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas quickstepping to I’m Still Standing from the Elton John biopic Rocketman and JB Gill and Amy Dowden dancing the American Smooth to Pure Imagination from Wonka. Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtick had been due to dance the Charleston to Rain on the Roof from Paddington 2 but following an injury Nick is missing the competition this week.
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