Amy Dowden has hit back at former Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole, accusing him of seeking ‘the attention he so desperately craves’ after he criticised her performances.
The professional dancer, 36, said Cole had not contacted her despite having her phone number, adding that ‘the decent thing to do’ would have been to get in touch.
Speaking at Monday night’s Pride of Britain Awards, Dowden said some of the headlines following his comments had been ‘quite upsetting’.
Cole had claimed the Welsh dancer had ‘not been up to the challenge’ of training her celebrity partners.
‘Rather than him worry about what the headlines were saying about himself, it would’ve been nice for him to call. He’s got my number,’ she told the Daily Mail.
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‘Some of those headlines were quite upsetting. He said I’ve not done a good job since my cancer.’
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She added: ‘The best thing to do, the decent thing to do would’ve been to get in touch.’
Asked whether she had heard from Cole, she replied: ‘Nothing, I’ve not heard from him. It’s fine, I don’t expect anything else.’
When asked whether she felt a male professional would have faced the same criticism, Dowden gave a pointed response.
‘I don’t know, I just don’t want to give him the attention he so desperately craves,’ she said.
The row follows comments from Cole about Dowden’s performance with celebrity hairdresser Chris Appleton, 43, who became the first couple eliminated from this year’s competition.
It was Dowden’s second consecutive first-round exit, after she was eliminated alongside businessman Thomas Skinner last year.
Speaking to Sky Vegas, Cole said: ‘To be a pro on Strictly is a big job and one has to be up to the challenge. Amy has not been up to the challenge, in my opinion.’
He also criticised her for counting Appleton through their routine, saying: ‘She’s standing out there counting him in. She’s counting every step for him.’
Dowden initially appeared to respond with a dressing-room video on social media, in which she blew a kiss and mimed along to the opening of Mariah Carey’s Obsessed.
She captioned the Instagram post: ‘If you know, you know #bekind #inaworldyoucanbeanythingbekind.’
The dancer was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 and missed that year’s series while undergoing treatment, including a mastectomy and chemotherapy.
In February 2024, she announced that tests had shown ‘no evidence of disease’, although she said she would continue to need injections and regular check-ups.
She returned to Strictly in autumn 2024 with JLS singer JB Gill, but was forced to withdraw after suffering a foot injury. Fellow professional Lauren Oakley took over as his partner.
Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturdays and Sundays on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.