Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Danny John-Jules has hit out at Lorraine Kelly for not defending him from bullying accusations. 

The Red Dwarf actor was at the centre of reports last year that he “bullied” dance partner Amy Dowden while competing on the BBC ballroom show – something he has frequently denied.

Danny has now spoken of his disappointment at how breakfast TV presenter Lorraine failed to stand up for him, having appeared on her ITV breakfast show several times. 

Speaking to Metro, he said: “I’ve always had nothing but good things to say about her. ’She] never defended me. Never defended me. [She] went with the lie and I’m sorry, I’ve always said good things about her and I still haven’t said bad things about her.”

He continued: “But, [she] should have defended it you know, really, because you’ve met me three times.”

Danny previously accused the BBC of “creating stories” about him during his time on Strictly, speculating they could have been behind the claims of bullying published in the press. 

He said: “There were two scenarios; either someone was backstage selling stories or it was manipulated by the press themselves. 

“Now if the BBC heard something that wasn’t true why didn’t they say, ‘That’s not true?’. If it’s not true, say it’s not true. If you don’t defend me, that’s your business. If you do defend me that’s your business. The BBC never said it wasn’t true… they created the stories.”

He went on to suggest that the BBC may have wanted to get rid of him, after he was saved by the public despite being at the bottom of the leaderboard that week.

A BBC representative told HuffPost UK his suggestion was “categorically untrue”.

When the press suggested last year that Danny was on his “final warning” from producers, a Strictly insider told HuffPost UK that no such warning had been given, while the actor later went on to suggest there was a “vendetta” against him.

He had previously implied in a Twitter post that the negative stories being written about him were rooted in racism.

After being voted off the show, Danny declined to be interviewed on spin-off show It Takes Two, although his professional partner Amy did appear solo, where she denied claims he had bullied her.

Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One on Saturday.