Thomas Skinner has spoken out on Good Morning Britain about his early Strictly exit.
09:14, 13 Jan 2026Updated 10:40, 13 Jan 2026
Thomas Skinner has addressed his absence from the Strictly Come Dancing final last month and revealed his future plans with the BBC.
The former BBC The Apprentice contestant appeared on Tuesday's (January 13) edition of Good Morning Britain, where he spoke with presenters Ed Balls and Susanna Reid about his time on the dancing competition.
Last year, Thomas competed on Strictly with professional dancer Amy Dowden, who has previously discussed her celebrity partner's absence from the final. Prior to their first performance together, Thomas faced considerable online criticism.
The star became the first contestant eliminated from the competition, leading to speculation that voting had been manipulated to remove him from the programme due to negative press coverage.
However, during the interview with Susanna and Ed, a statement from the BBC was read out which confirmed: "Strictly Come Dancing's public vote is independently overseen and verified to ensure complete accuracy every week. Any claims to the contrary are entirely without foundation."
Throughout the conversation, Thomas discussed his short stint on the programme and disclosed further plans to collaborate with the broadcaster going forward, reports Wales Online.
Responding to speculation that he intended to pursue legal action against the BBC, Thomas explained: "I did have some chats with the BBC, I did.
"They said 'You've been sent something you shouldn't have been sent, it is what it is. We think you should get some legal advice.' That was the chat with the BBC.
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"I've got no rows with the BBC, I was on the Celebrity Apprentice raising money for Children in Need a week after, and I'm doing bits with them next year."
Susanna pointed out that he hadn't returned for the finale, prompting him to explain his decision.
He said: "The reason I didn't come back, this is the honest truth. I thought, I've had all this bad press, I've been frontpage every time I've been on the show, I didn't want to take away from everyone else.
"I didn't want my wife to think, 'Oh, there's another story about us now.' It wasn't fair. But anyway, I ended up being front page anyway! So it didn't really matter."
Although he missed the Strictly finale, which saw Karen Carney and Carlos Gu crowned winners, Thomas revealed that Amy has become a 'family friend'. He also disclosed to Susanna and Ed that he's planning to play golf with Strictly professional Kai Widdrington in the coming weeks.
Discussing the intense media attention he faced whilst appearing on the BBC programme, Thomas confessed: "It was stupid, there were journalists outside my house following my wife back from Sainsbury's, I saw my wife getting upset, and that's what hurt me more than anything, my wife and my family.
"They were knocking on my sister's door, they were knocking on my friends door, they sat in my local pub and offered people money to sell stories on me! It was mad."
Good Morning Britain is available to watch on ITVX.