The Greatest Dancer bosses have dismissed the idea that an upcoming appearance from the professional stars of Strictly Come Dancing was specifically concocted as a ratings ploy.

On Monday, The Sun claimed that Greatest Dancer producers were hoping that getting the stars of Strictly to appear on their show might help drum up some interest from the public, after it only attracted an audience of just over 3 million on Saturday.

However, a rep for The Greatest Dancer has now insisted that it had always been the plan for the Strictly pros to put in an appearance on their fellow BBC dance show.

A spokesperson for the show told Digital Spy: “It has always been the case that Strictly dancers would perform on one of our live shows, along with lots of other special guests, which we can’t wait for viewers to see.”

The BBC is yet to confirm exactly what the Strictly professionals’ appearance will entail, though The Sun has suggested they’ll be dancing alongside Cheryl Tweedy, one of the shows “dance captains”.

Cheryl made her debut in The Greatest Dancer earlier this month, sitting on the judging panel alongside Strictly pro Oti Mabuse and former Glee actor Matthew Morrison.

Although we gave the show’s first episode a positive review, The Greatest Dancer has repeatedly lost out to ITV’s ‘The Voice’ in the ratings, and it’s not unfair to say the knives have been out for both the show and Cheryl since its debut.

In the last few weeks alone, Cheryl has repeatedly been forced to hit back at headlines written about her in the tabloid press, on everything from a supposed feud with Oti to the live performances of her most recent single ‘Love Made Me Do It’.

‘The Greatest Dancer’ airs on Saturday nights on BBC One.