'Not doing a good job': Ex-Strictly dancer delivers brutal critique of Amy Dowden

Amy Dowden has been critiqued by a former Strictly professional dancer for “not doing a good job”.

Dowden, who also left the competition first in 2025, said she was “gutted” to be gone so soon, adding: “I honestly think there was so much more to come.”

Chris Appleton and Amy Dowden wound up in the bottom two with actress Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu

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Now, former colleague Brendan Cole has made his feelings clear on Dowden’s performance, stating that he doesn’t think she’s done a good job in teaching her celebrities.

Speaking to Sky Vegas, Cole, who was on the show from 2004 until 2018, 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.

Brendan Cole made his thoughts clear on Amy Dowden’s teaching abilities

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“I don’t think Amy’s been doing a very good job for the last few years and she’s been out first for the last few years. One can do the maths on that.”

Cole claimed that he can see Dowden “counting in” her partners, a sign to him that the “job has not been done”.

“I don’t think people are enjoying it,” he said.

Last year, Dowden, who joined the show in 2017, and partner Thomas Skinner were voted off first following a dance-off against Chris Robshaw.

The former The Apprentice star is a divisive internet personality, whose public support for Donald Trump and JD Vance resulted in calls for him to be removed from the show.

Thomas Skinner and Amy Dowden came in last place in 2025

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Dowden shutdown claims that she had been paired with Skinner in order to “protect her health”, following her public breast cancer battle.

She was unable to compete in the competition in 2023, and in 2024, had been forced to leave her partner JB Gill after breaking her foot.

She told The Telegraph: “You know, he said when he came in that he wasn’t a dancer, but he worked really hard. Obviously, I was gutted, selfishly, because I’d wanted to prove that after a cancer diagnosis you can come back and do well.”

“I certainly didn’t know them. I’m not a massive television watcher,” he said on Good Morning Britain last month, though admittedly described himself a “bitter old pro”.