Strictly Come Dancing’s Bethany Antonia’s trans ally T-shirt edited out of show by BBC

The BBC has been criticised for editing a pro-trans slogan from a T-shirt worn by Bethany Antonia during Saturday night’s show (Picture: BBC) Fans have branded the BBC ‘disgusting’ for editing out a trans ally slogan on Strictly Come Dancing star Bethany Antonia’s T-shirt.

During Saturday’s show, the training montage for Bethany and her partner Nancy Xu’s American Smooth saw the House of the Dragon actress wear a white T-shirt, which originally had phrase ‘protect the dolls’ written across its front.

The T-shirt, which has also been warn by the likes of Hollywood star Pedro Pascal to the Thunderbolts* premiere in April last year, was first designed by London-based designer Conner Ives for his Autumn/Winter 2025 collection, with the profits donated to charity Trans Lifeline.

‘Dolls’ is an affectionate term for trans women within the LGBTQ+ community, with the message seen as one of solidarity in the face of anti-trans policies.

While right at the start of the rehearsal footage, it could be seen that Bethany’s T-shirt, worn with green tracksuit bottoms, said something, when she later danced and showed the front of her top to the camera, there was nothing there.

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However, there was evidence that text had been edited out and a blurred box placed over her chest in the episode, which can also be seen in the episode as uploaded on BBC iPlayer.

Bethany wore a T-Shirt that said ‘Protect the Dolls’ during #Strictly rehearsals.After posting a video, the BBC quietly replaced it with a new one that doesn’t show her from the front. During the show, they actually blurred out the T-Shirt completely. Absolutely despicable pic.twitter.com/MHr7m6ZyKH

The Super TV account on X also spotted that the original footage had beenshared on Strictly’s Instagram account, before it was quietly removed and replaced with the edited version.

‘Bethany wore a T-shirt that said ‘Protect the Dolls’ during #Strictly rehearsals,’ the account’s post read on the social platform, with a grab of Bethany as she practised a spin and showed off the T-shirt’s print before it was edited.

‘After posting a video, the BBC quietly replaced it with a new one that doesn’t show her from the front. During the show, they actually blurred out the T-shirt completely. Absolutely despicable.’

When approached for comment by Metro, a BBC spokesperson said: ‘As is standard practise on any entertainment show on the BBC and in line with our editorial guidelines, appropriate steps are taken to reduce the inclusion of any overt branding or slogans that may be present, regardless of the wording or statement in question.’

‘Great to see Bethany’s support for the trans community, very sad that a supportive t-shirt was seemingly censored by the BBC,’ Milly Rowland wrote in the comment section on Instagram.

Several other users posted ‘protect the dolls’ in the comments too, in protest.

On X, River accused the BBC of ‘genuine oppressive propaganda’, while Siobhan added: ‘Deeply disappointed. But unfortunately not surprised.’

Bree Ryan also pointed to the recent cancellation of Drag Race UK, alleging that the broadcaster was wiping LGBTQ+ elements from the network.

‘They are essentially decide [sic.] we do not exist, nor do we have the right to have our stories told.’

Bethany, 28, recently spoke out about the importance of representation after being placed in an all-female partnership with Nancy, and after seeing previous ones on the show had helped her feel more comfortable being out to people in her life.

‘It was so important to me to make sure that if I did it, I got to do it with a woman,’ she told the BBC.

‘When I watched Nicola and Katya do it for the first time and be the first same-sex pairing, I wasn’t out to everyone in my life.

‘Watching them do the show… made it so much easier for me to have that conversation with people in my life.’

Olympic boxer Nicola Adams and dancer Katya Jones were the first all-female partnership on Strictly in 2020, while there have also been same-sex parterships between Bake Off star John Whaite and Johannes Radebe, Nikita Kuzmin and West End star Layton Williams, and fomer pro Givanni Pernice with BBC TV and radio presenter Richie Anderson

Comedian Jayde Adams and ex-pro Karen Hauer previously danced together in honour of Jayde’s late sister, with whom she had performed together in competitive disco dancing when they were younger.

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Metro contacted reps for Bethany Antonia for comment.

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