A “mastermind” behind Strictly Come Dancing unexpectedly announced his departure… right in the middle of a show undergoing drastic changes following a series of scandals

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Top Strictly boss QUITS amid BBC dance show’s reinvention after years of scandal

THERE’S a growing sense that the new series of Strictly will be very much a fresh start for the show – with a fresh team ushering in the new era too.

That includes the exec producer of Strictly: It Takes Two who has announced she is leaving, just months after I exclusively revealed ten weeks ago that it was switching to more of a vodcast format.

The executive produce of Strictly: It Takes Two has announced she is leavingCredit: PA
 
Eve Winstanley has taken up a job with Netflix as a producer on Love is Blind UKCredit: X/@eve_winstanley
Eve Winstanley has been in the Strictly family for more than two decades but yesterday announced her exit on LinkedIn – and wasted no time switching her job title to that of producer on Netflix title, Love is Blind UK

She wrote: “I started on Strictly: It Takes Two as a young 20 something Assistant Producer, who at the time had not long finished working on the first series of Dancing on Ice.

“I simply had no idea that the world of glitter and sequins would become such a massive part of my life.

“Across 16 series, I had 5 different job roles, culminating in 10 fab-u-lous years as Exec. I couldn’t be prouder of being part of this iconic brand, but earlier this year I knew it was time to hang up my dancing shoes (in my head I’m a pro dancer) and hand over to a new team to freshen things up.

“I’ve made some of the best friends across my time on the show and also nurtured young talent into becoming leaders in their own right. It’s been a show that has given in so many ways.

“I’m so excited for what the future holds and have fun new projects in the pipeline, so watch this space…Keep Dancing!”

I revealed in April how the changes to It Takes Two would be part of a string of new elements being introduced as Strictly tries to start with a clean slate.

Hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly have now been replaced by Emma Willis, Josh Widdecombe and Johannes Radebe.

Now everyone’s waiting to see who will being the new pros line up, what the studio will look like and how much producers intend to explore new behind-the-scenes elements.

Now the only questions is, with Eve’s departure, will we now see main show exec producer Sarah James leaving too?