Strictly voting poll ‘confirms Thomas Skinner was least popular star’ after BBC fix claims

A poll appears to show Thomas Skinner was the ‘least popular’ Strictly Come Dancing contestant, despite his claims against the BBC.

The former Apprentice star, 34, was the first contestant to be voted out of the 2025 series with his pro partner, Amy Dowden, 35, having failed to secure enough public votes to avoid the dance-off.

Ahead of this year’s final, in which Karen Carney and Carlos Gu lifted the Glitter Ball trophy, Skinner confirmed he would not be attending, nor would he feature in the celebratory end-of-season group dance.

What’s more, he claimed to have evidence of alleged vote rigging, having reportedly received an anonymous email containing the stats,

But in an exit poll on the independent Strictly Spoiler website, which garnered 125k votes following his elimination, Skinner received 1,805, which was 1.44% of all votes cast in the survey.

The closest contestant to him was Chris Robshaw, with 2.14% (2,668), who was eliminated two weeks later.

The poll, which is shown as closed on the site, allowed viewers to select up to five couples to show ‘who got your vote’ for that week, meaning it’s not clear exactly how many people took part.

In response to Skinner allegedly wanting to take legal action, the BBC told Metro that ‘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,’ a spokesperson for the BBC had added. ‘Unfortunately, despite requests for it, Mr Skinner is yet to share the email he references with anyone from the BBC, so we are unable to comment on it.’

In a statement to Metro on Monday morning, Skinner insisted he has ‘not claimed that the vote was rigged’, and has not ‘made that allegation publicly or privately’.

He said: ‘What I did do was speak in confidence to the BBC team regarding an email I received on the night I left Strictly. I was advised by the BBC’s own team that, given the nature of the email, I should consider taking legal advice. The whole situation was quite upsetting.’

‘I genuinely enjoyed my time on Strictly. I don’t have any issues with the BBC, and I don’t have a problem with any of the contestants. There are no hard feelings at all on my side,’ he continued.

‘What’s been most disappointing is seeing details of a private conversation appear in the press. That information did not come from me, and I’m not sure how it was leaked.

‘At this stage, I simply want to be left alone, get on with things, and enjoy a quiet Christmas with my family.’

A day after the 2025 finale, Skinner said he wishes he ‘never’ signed up for Strictly, admitting the ‘negative attention’ has ‘affected him’.

In a since-deleted social media statement seen by Metro, Skinner began: ‘First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who has followed my journey and supported me along the way. I genuinely appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.’

‘I also want to be honest. I know what’s likely to come next,’ he continued. ‘I expect people will call me a liar, they’ll try to cancel me, say I’m hated, or even claim I didn’t get any votes at all. At this point, I don’t care anymore. I know what’s right, and I know the conversations I’ve had.’

Skinner added: ‘I understand that much of what’s happened is my own fault. I know I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life and I hold my hands up to that. I’m not perfect and I’ve never pretended to be.

‘But what I can’t accept is my family being dragged into this.’

Skinner has been married to Sinéad Chambers since May 2022, and they share a son, born in October 2020, and twin daughters, born in June 2023.

Their marriage hit the headlines at the start of Strictly when Skinner publicly confessed to cheating on his wife shortly after they tied the knot.

He said he wanted to ‘own up’ to his fling’ with an ‘attractive’ single mum, whom he met at a pub in 2022 and later gave him free cosmetic treatment.

‘So I need to take a step back,’ he went on to say in his latest post.

‘I never wanted any of this to become public. If I’m being completely honest, I really regret doing Strictly Come Dancing. I wish I’d never done it.’

Despite being snubbed by his partner in her Instagram post after the finale, Skinner went on: ‘The only positive to come from it was making a new friend in Amy, who is a genuinely lovely person.

‘Aside from that, it’s brought a huge amount of negative attention, and it has affected me more than I’d like to admit.’

‘It was on good terms,’ he stated.

On his feelings towards the broadcaster, he also explained: ‘I want to be clear: I don’t hate the BBC. They gave me my big break when I appeared on The Apprentice six or seven years ago, and I’m grateful for that. I’m not looking for conflict. I just want to get on with my life.’

‘Tomorrow I’ll be back at work, focusing on my family, my children, and my beautiful wife,’ Skinner concluded.

‘I’m lucky I have work every day and I’m focusing on that. The amount I’ve been attacked this year really isn’t right.’

When contacted for a comment in light of Skinner’s new remarks, the BBC reiterated their original statements, while PromoVeritas – the company that independently verifies the Strictly public vote – echoed their earlier response.

It read: ‘All votes are independently and comprehensively verified by two auditors. We can confirm that all votes received are validated.

‘This has been the case every week and we have reported no issues with the public vote or how it is being represented in the final results.’

Skinner’s short Strictly stint was marred by controversy from the start.

Fans of the beloved dance programme expressed disappointment at his casting, given how Skinner has publicly endorsed the Republican Party and Donald Trump for president.

Then, in a press conference ahead of the first live show, Skinner grabbed a reporter’s phone and stormed out of an interview. He later claimed he was ‘caught off-guard’ by a message about ‘a personal story from [his] past’ on the journalist’s phone.

‘I felt it was best to step away and gather myself,’ he also said afterwards.

Skinner did two dances in total on Strictly, his dancefloor debut being a paso doble, which scored just 16 points out of a possible 40.

In week 2, he danced a salsa, for which he and Dowden scored a measly 13 points, resulting in viewers branding him the ‘worst dancer’ of the series and his subsequent elimination.

Metro has contacted Thomas Skinner’s representatives for comment.

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