Amber Davies faced backlash after going on Strictly Come Dancing despite having dance experience, but the West End star has now responded to her critics
Amber Davies has hit out at people who have criticised her. The Strictly Come Dancing star has been slammed in the past due to her previous dance experience.
The star who found fame on Love Island has since gone on to make a name for herself on the West End, having appeared in Legally Blonde and 9 to 5. And with this has come social media trolling, with many claiming she had an unfair advantage over her Strictly co-stars.
Reality TV star and actress Amber joined Strictly late after Dani Dyer had to pull out due to an injury. Some fans were enraged by this, as Amber has dance experience, having done it professionally as part of her musical theatre career.
Now, Amber has responded, revealing that she has, in fact, worked for her success and will continue to do so on Strictly. “We see the same thing over and over again and I feel like it doesn’t matter what I say or how I feel, if I’m struggling, people will of course have things to say because I do musical theatre,” she said.
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Amber went on to say: “I have worked my a**e off to be taken seriously in the musical theatre world, and I feel like I have been working so hard. The musical theatre world is actually quite small so once you work hard, you are committed, consistent in your job and are a good company member, you can build your reputation quite quickly within the industry.”
Amber went on to tell the Daily Mail that she came from a working-class family, which saw her parents work every hour in order for her and her sister to attend singing and acting lessons. But one person who knows about the backlash from Strictly is former contestant Layton Williams, who appeared on the show in 2023.
He also had appeared on the West End in shows including Billy Elliot. Layton reached out to Amber, explaining she needed to put herself in a “bubble” and embrace her experience on the show. Despite the criticism, Amber says she’s enjoying her time on the programme as it will be a “positive moment” in her life.
Elsewhere, source told The Mail on Sunday: “Amber has come under attack for her huge back catalogue of dance experience. It hasn’t gone as well for her as she had probably hoped. The problem is, Strictly viewers won’t be hoodwinked by things like this. They want to watch a journey, not a professional who already knows what she is doing.”
The star received the news that she was appearing on the show, just 48 hours before she was in the training room with her professional dancer, Nikita Kuzmin. In the past, there had been claims that Amber had been turned down by Strictly – something which she vehemently denies.
Her time on the show comes after Amber signed with top PR firm, DawBell, who represent the likes of Michelle Keegan, Sir Paul McCartney and Harry Styles. In the past, she had been represented by leading entertainment publicist, Simon Jones, who works with One Direction, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Raye and Ant and Dec.
Simon told the Mirror that while he and Amber remain friends, they parted ways professionally in November 2024 as he was “refocusing” his business.
Strictly Come Dancing is available to catch-up with on BBC iPlayer.
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