Amy Dowden has addressed Brendan Cole’s critical comments of her dancing skills as she stressed the importance of being kind.
Earlier this month, the Welsh dancer became the first pro to leave the competition after she and her partner Chris Appleton lost the dance-off against Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu.
Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden were the first couple to be voted off Strictly this season
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In a new interview with The Mirror, the 36-year-old addressed the critiques, stating: “I’ll be honest, what do you expect from him?”
“It’s fine – I’ve never been brought up to be personal, and in this day and age especially I think it’s so important to be kind, and to think about the next generation.”
She said that tries to use her large platform in various ways, from helping charities to being a role model for the students at her dance academy.
Amy Dowden stressed the importance of ‘being kind’
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Dowden also appeared to make a playful dig at Cole in an Instagram story, where she danced and lip-synced to Mariah Carey’s Obsessed.
She captioned the video: “If you know, you know #bekind #inaworldyoucanbeanythingbekind.”
Earlier this month, in an interview with Sky Vegas, Cole, who was on the show from 2004 until 2018, said that being a Strictly Come Dancing professional is a “big job”.
“Amy has not been up to the challenge, in my opinion.
“I don’t think Amy’s been doing a very good job for the last few years and she’s been out first for the last few years. One can do the maths on that.”
Cole claimed that he can see Dowden “counting in” her partners, a sign to him that the “job has not been done”.
“I don’t think people are enjoying it,” he said.
Last year, Dowden, who joined the show in 2017, and partner Thomas Skinner were voted off first following a dance-off against Chris Robshaw.
Brendan Cole said that Amy Dowden wasn’t ‘up to the job’
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The year prior to that, in 2024, she had been forced to leave her partner JB Gill after breaking her foot.
And in 2023, she was unable to compete after being diagnosed with grade-three breast cancer.
Fans heaped praise on Dowden for her handling of Cole’s comments.
“Negative words mean 1 of 3 things, jealousy, bitterness, or a lack of understanding. All three say more about them than they ever will about you. Keep being you,” said one.
“YESSSSS QUEEN YOU TELL HIM,” said a second, whilst a third added: “That so called ex-pro could never, for someone who hates Strictly all he does is talk about it, he's just jealous, keep on slaying life Amy.”