Strictly Come Dancing’s live ‘Spectacular’ shocks fans by charging £400 to get photographs with ballroom stars – on top of £72.30 entrance fee – as BBC cashes in
STRICTLY fans have been left outraged after being quoted £400 to pose up for photos with their ballroom idols at the show’s forthcoming “Spectacular”.
Billed as “The Ultimate Day Out” for the show’s hardcore following, Strictly Come Dancing: The Spectacular was announced last week prompting a flurry of excitement from viewers eager to get close to the show’s famous faces.
But ticket buyers have been shocked by the hefty extra costs after forking out £70 per person for an adult ticket – or £192.50 for a family of two adults and two children.
Booking a snap with one of the shows judges, Darcey Bussell, Bruno Tonioli or Craig Revel Horwood will set fans back a further £26.80 per person.
The same fee applies to a picture with host Tess Daly or spin-off presenter Zoe Ball, and it’s a further £26.80 for a pic with Gethin Jones who appeared as a contestant on the Christmas Special last year and also as a reporter on It Takes Two.
But professional dancers come cheaper, with veteran star Anton du Beke, glamorous Natalie Lowe, Aljaz Skorjanec and Oti Mabuse available for a quick pic priced at £21.80.
And former celebrity contestants are available cheaper still – with EastEnders star Jake Wood, Judy Murray, Anita Rani, Alison Hammond and Nancy Dell’Olio all advertised at £15 a time, though not all of them are expected to be available on every day.
The event is likely to be in high demand among the 13million fans who enjoyed the last series of the show.
But one fan who had bought tickets raged: “It’s very steep – and has taken the gloss off the excitement of going.
“It’s already incredibly expensive to take a family, it’s nearly £200 just to walk through the door and go to the talks, so to find that you have to pay extra to get a photograph feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth.
“By the end of the day it would cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds to get a photograph with everyone there – and that’s before you’ve travelled or eaten.
“It’s practically the cost of a family holiday for one afternoon out.”
Even a photograph sat at the empty judges desk costs £12 – though there is space for four people on the bench at once.
But ticket prices do include the opportunity to listen to talks from some of the show’s stars about their Strictly journeys, a catwalk fashion show and an exclusive performance by some of the dancers.
Unveiling the event last week, Craig Revel Horwood announced: “Strictly Come Dancing: The Spectacular is a dream come true – a fun-filled day that gets you as close as possible to some of the biggest names in Strictly.
“Plus, I’ll be there to reveal a few never-before-mentioned secrets and chatting about my favourite moments of the show. I can’t wait to see you there, darling!”
The exhibition takes place at London’s ExCel centre in June, and follows in the footsteps of other successful BBC licensed events based on their successful TV shows, including The BBC Good Food Show - where entrance tickets are less than £20.
A BBC Worldwide spokesman insisted that the event was good value for money and that all profits are returned to the BBC.
He added that charging for photographs helped to deal with demand, insisting: “It’s standard for an event like this – it helps us deal with high-demand by having queuing procedures in place.”