Cheryl sidelined by The Greatest Dancer bosses in latest blow

[Nergal]

 

FROM losing her L’Oréal deal to seeing her comeback single plummet to No77 in the charts — it hasn’t been a great few months for Cheryl Tweedy.

And now it seems her TV return on new show The Greatest Dancer may not be as straightforward and triumphant as she might have hoped.

I can reveal producers on the upcoming BBC1 prime-time talent contest fear they may have expected too much of Cheryl’s pulling power to make it a success — prompting a series of concerned discussions among executives.

They are now launching a major promotional campaign with her fellow “dance captain” and Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse pushed to the forefront.

A show insider said: “Cheryl has certainly had a string of bad luck recently and there’s a lot of grumbling behind the scenes that she’s going to have the same effect on The Greatest Dancer. All the publicity and focus of the show has been on her but now her big musical comeback has proved to be a flop, everyone’s worried they’ve put all their eggs in the wrong basket.

“Producers have decided they now want to quietly push Oti more into the spotlight.

“Unlike Cheryl, she has serious dance credentials and is genuinely loved by a lot of viewers following her success on Strictly. With the launch date just weeks away, producers are pretty stressed to say the least.

"The channel is doing everything they can to make sure this new show is a hit."

Cheryl will make her debut on The Greatest Dancer alongside Oti, Glee’s Matthew Morrison and hosts Alesha Dixon and Jordan Banjo when the show launches on January 5.

The eight-part series will air on Saturday nights, and aims to uncover the UK’s best dancers from every background, including Bollywood, ballet and tap.

Bosses’ fears for Cheryl come after she faced a backlash yesterday for releasing her range of hoodies with the lyrics to flop single Love Made Me Do It — containing an embarrassing grammar mistake.

The £45 white, cropped top includes the word “wasn’t” with the apostrophe in the wrong place.

If The Greatest Dancer doesn’t work out for Cheryl, then Countdown will be a no-no too.