Strictly Come Dancing’ contestant Brian Conley has rubbished recent reports that he is about to leave the show.

The English presenter, comedian and actor found himself in the dance-off on last weekend’s edition of the BBC show, but judges elected to save him and send home Chizzy Akudola instead.

However, a report in The Sun on Thursday (October 5th) suggested that he had been talking with backstage crew about the quitting the show, apparently because he wants to prepare for the upcoming panto season, with Conley having a lucrative deal with a theatre in Milton Keynes.

Indeed, he also joked with Zoe Ball on the spin-off show ‘It Takes Two’ that he wasn’t allowed to injure himself in training because he’s “got another week to go”.

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A source close to the situation told The Sun that Conley “clearly sees his involvement in the show as pretty short-term’ and that he is “already expecting to head off to panto.”

However, the 56 year old star took to Twitter on Friday morning to shoot down the rumours, reassuring viewers that he was “loving” his time on ‘Strictly’ and intended to stay in as long as possible.

“Just woke to news that I apparently want to be out of strictly what utter bullshit! I’m loving this & 100% want to stay in as long as poss," he tweeted.

This issue was addressed back in August when the BBC began announcing the contestants for the 15th season of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, and it turned out that Conley and fellow contestant Debbie McGee had panto contracts. The network said at the time that its contracts were secure and that they would have to miss the panto season, rather than them leaving early.

This weekend’s show will see Conley and professional dancing partner Amy Dowden dance the American Smooth to ‘If I Only Had A Brain’ from ‘The Wizard Of Oz’, for the themed Movie Week.

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