Irish Strictly Come Dancing series AXED due to lack of funds

RTÉ have axed their plans for an Irish version of Strictly Come Dancing – due to the broadcaster not having enough money to fund the show.

BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing is one of the most popular entertainment shows worldwide, but RTÉ does not have the budget to make such a huge show that would be as good as the UK version.

According to the Irish Sun, the BBC have put a stop to an Irish Strictly as they believed the popular dance competition couldn’t be made on the budget proposed by RTÉ.

Axed: Plans for an Irish Strictly Come Dancing have been thrown out

“Strictly is an award-winning international format with electric dance routines,” said an insider.

“It’s not a show you can cut back on costs.”

BBC bosses were also said to be concerned about another version of Strictly being aired so close to Britain, and they worried that RTÉ would struggle to find enough celebrities to sign up for the show.

“It’s not just the production values, it’s finding celebrities who can dance in Ireland. The UK is so big, it’s no prolem there, but you’d struggle to find enough well-known faces who can dance in Ireland.”

Disappointing: Just last week Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh admitted she would love to host an Irish Strictly | VIPIRELAND.COM

Celebs that sign up to appear on BBC’s Strictly make enough money from the show that they can afford to take the time off their usual work schedule, to train and dance in the competition for a number of weeks.

However, the smaller fees offered by RTÉ simply wouldn’t be enough to pay celebrities to take that much time out of their already busy lives.

The news comes after RTÉ star Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh revealed last week that there were talks in RTÉ about an Irish version of Strictly and that she would “love to host it”.