BBC scraps celebrity pole dancing show
17/05/2006 - 17:23:47The BBC has scrapped plans for a celebrity pole dancing show after protests from women’s groups.
TV star Zoe Ball had signed up to take part in the one-off programme for Sport Relief.
Newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky and GMTV’s Fiona Phillips had also been linked to the show, intended as a spoof version of Strictly Come Dancing.
But the idea provoked outrage among women’s rights campaigners.
Denise Marshall of the Poppy Project, a Home Office-funded support group for women trafficked into prostitution, said: “Despite celebrity advocates promoting pole dancing as harmless fun, we must not forget that it has inextricable links to the sexual exploitation of women.”
A BBC spokesman said: “This idea was one of several that we were considering and will not now be developed further.”
