Thieves Raid ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ Dressing Room While Stars Dance On Stage
“Strictly Come Dancing” contestants Abbey Clancy, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and Natalie Gumede became victims of robbery while they were dancing in the show. The UK dance competition was ransacked by thieves during its live show on Saturday.
The show is usually filmed at the Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, but moved to the Blackpool Tower Ballroom on Saturday, which proved to be unfortunate as thieves looted the dressing room shared by the female participants and dancers while they were performing on stage.
Sophie lost an iPad from the incident, while Natalie’s phone was stolen. Abbey also lost jewellery and her mobile phone, according to The Mirror.
Only one dressing room was ransacked. Police received the report around 9:45 pm GMT.
The thieves apparently worked while the show reached its finale and the women were in the ballroom about 100 yards away. They appeared to have avoided the CCTV cameras around the building by using a network of underground tunnels.
And as they knew how to navigate the tunnels at the backstage interior of the venue, police believe that the thefts were carried out by those with knowledge of the building’s layout.
“It’s such a shame as it really spoilt the end of an amazing night,” a show insider told the Daily Mail.
“There were security scanners on doors and entrances where the audience came in plus on every backstage entrance, but with a 1,000-strong audience, 90-plus dancers and all of the production crew, there were tonnes of people on set and so much going on.”
Meanwhile, Fiona Fullerton was the latest star eliminated from the show. The former Bond Girl and her dancing partner Anton du Beke landed in the bottom two with Mark Benton and professional dancer Iveta Lukosiute, but they were voted out by the judges. Only Craig Revel Horwood chose to save Fiona and Anton, while Darcey Bussell, Bruno Toniolo, and Len Goodman all voted to save Mark and Iveta.