A group
of professional musicians have said they were dropped by Strictly Come Dancing after they asked to be paid for
performing on the programme’s spinoff show.
Amaraterra, a band who perform traditional southern Italian
music, said they were excited when they were approached by producers who were
enthusiastic about them appearing on the BBC companion programme It Takes Two.
However, when they asked for a fee to
compensate them for a day’s work the BBC producers told them, in emails seen by
the Guardian: “We just don’t have money in the budget to pay for contributors.”
Instead, they were offered a free lunch and it was suggested that they would
receive a “decent amount of screen time, as well as a mention of your group
name”, which would help boost the band’s following on Instagram and Facebook.
Same Old,
Same Old Then?
