Shirley Ballas makes emotional plea to fans ahead of Strictly Come Dancing return

A message for fans has been shared by Shirley Ballas ahead of Strictly Come Dancing returning. She has encouraged people to "be kind" to one another after having previously dealt with trolls on social media during past series.

Shirley, 65, will be back as a judge on the BBC show when it returns later this month, with the new series scheduled to launch next week. She will reunite with Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke on the panel.

Ahead of the upcoming launch, Shirley has warned fans to be "careful" how they treat other people. She also encouraged her followers to "be kind" in the post, which was uploaded to the dancer's Instagram Story this morning.

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Shirley shared a photo of actor Tom Hiddleston that had a caption with it. Seemingly written by someone else, it read: "The most expensive liquid in the world is a tear. It's 1% water and 99% feelings. Think before you hurt someone."

Sharing her thoughts on that post, Shirley then encouraged her followers to "be kind" to other people. She wrote above the photo and its caption in her post earlier today: "Be careful what you throw towards other people. Be kind."

Her message comes ahead of Strictly returning next week. The new series is scheduled to launch on September 20, with the line-up of contestants including Love Island winner Dani Dyer and EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal.

Shirley has faced trolling and comments about her appearance in previous years, and has previously said that the messages she receives start to "get personal" as the show returns each year. Last year, she reacted to someone who suggested that she consider having "warts" removed from her face.

As reported by OK! magazine, she responded in August last year, shortly before the new series began. Shirley wrote: "And so it begins lol. Just for one's information, I love my little bump on my chin I was born with it. It's not a wart. Can always tell when [Strictly] is about to start, the messages get personal."

Shirley even announced that she would be taking a break from work over the Christmas period in 2022 as a result of trolling. As reported at the time, she told S magazine in an interview: "It's the first time I've taken any time off – ever! I'm taking two and a half weeks off, because of the immense amount of trolling I got throughout this series."

She said: "I decided I wouldn't do panto this year. Last time I did it, I got a letter hand-delivered to the theatre that was very off-putting." She added: "So I'm going to take some time off and just get myself together for the new year."

Speaking to the Mirror just months prior, she said: "The names I've been called, I couldn't even repeat them to you." She added at the time that she is "fine" with being criticised for her judging but finds personal comments to be "cruel".

She said: "You just want to do the best job for the people watching. And when it's not reciprocated and they say I didn't agree with your mark, you sent the wrong person home, I'm fine with that. But when it gets personal then I think that's cruel."

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