Philips: 'Strictly sacking still painful'

Arlene Phillips has said that the pain of being replaced as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing has not faded.

The former panellist told The Guardian that she did not know why she was the only judge to be fired for this year's revamp.

Phillips said: "That's the $64,000 question, isn't it? Why the one woman? I don't really have an idea. One can only surmise I wasn't right for the new look. I really don't think it was an age issue.

"I don't know why the three - you know, the three boys - are there but you have to trust that somebody was looking at the show and thinking this is right for the show... And you know, I loved the show.

"It's never stopped being painful. It never goes away. Saturdays have become like, you know, the Boomtown Rats, 'I Don't Like Mondays'. I don't like Saturdays."

When asked if the BBC's decision had a knock-on effect on the public regarding discussions of ageism, Phillips added: "Again I think that debate is almost a separate thing. I don't think it relates to me and what happened in Strictly. Not at all. Not at all."