Len Goodman has said he doesn't believe his ‘turn up, shut up’ comment to Will Young was the reason the singer quit ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

Young pulled out of the BBC competition in the week following Goodman’s comment, which came after the singer had answered back to the judge when he criticised his Bollywood routine for not including enough salsa.

Len GoodmanLen Goodman says Will Young’s ‘Strictly’ exit was not because of their clash

Speaking to The Sun for the first time about the incident, Goodman said: “I would have liked to have seen a bit more salsa content and he said ‘well there was 24 bars of recognisable’ and I said ‘well I didn’t see it’.

“I then said ‘turn up, keep up and shut up’. I was going to say ‘turn up, keep up and never give up’ because I had that in my head as a line for some time which would have been nice.”

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“But because he went on like that and I had that little line in my head it ended up as it ended up,” he continued.

The following week Young pulled out of the competition, citing “personal reasons”. Despite the timing of their clash, Goodman said he’s been assured Young’s withdrawal was nothing to do with him.

“It was unfortunate that he went the week I said to him he has to ‘turn up, keep up and shut up’,” he said. “But it wasn’t said in a vicious way.

“I said there wasn’t enough content which really isn’t even a pop at him – it’s a pop at the choreographer. I did ask other people if it was because of that he packed it in and I’ve been assured it wasn’t.”

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Tonight the winner of ‘Strictly’s’ current series will be crowned, with Danny Mac, Ore Oduba and Louise Redknapp competing for the coveted glitterball trophy.

The finale will also mark Goodman’s last appearance as a judge, after announcing he would be stepping down from the show at the end of the current series.