The cut the words Protect the Dolls from Bethany Antonia’s Strictly Come Dancing rehearsal footage shown on Saturday. In the broadcast, the actor appeared in a plain white T-shirt instead, even though a social media video posted last week showed her training with Nancy Xu in the slogan top.
Strictly Come Dancing edit
The slogan belonged to a T-shirt produced by Conner Ives and worn by public figures including Pedro Pascal, Tilda Swinton and Troye Sivan. In the source material, Protect the Dolls is described as a sign of support for the rights of trans women, and proceeds from sales of the shirt are donated to the UK trans charity Not A Phase.
The same edited version also appeared on iPlayer, extending the cut beyond the televised episode itself. For viewers following the show online, that meant the rehearsal clip carried the same plain-shirt image rather than the wording seen in the earlier video.
editorial guidelines
The said the removal followed standard practice on entertainment output. “As is standard practice on any entertainment show on the 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,” a spokesperson said.
That explanation places the edit in a general rules-based category, not a decision aimed at the slogan’s message. But the slogan removed here was not a commercial logo; it was a trans rights statement, which is what made the cut notable to viewers who had already seen the shirt worn plainly in the earlier rehearsal clip.
Previous blurs
The edit also fits a pattern. In 2017, the blurred a T-shirt worn by Grace Chatto that supported Jeremy Corbyn in a One Love Manchester concert video. In 2024, writing on a T-shirt worn by Ricky Wilson that read Trans Rights Are Human Rights appeared to have been blurred in certain shots during an episode of Michael McIntyre’s Big Show.
For Bethany Antonia, the practical result is simple: the slogan seen in rehearsal no longer appears in the Saturday broadcast or on iPlayer. The remaining question is why the same footage was left public in one version last week and stripped in another after the edit went out.
