Fresh blow for Strictly’s AJ Pritchard on Dancing With The Stars spin off – as Oti Mabuse takes swipe at him AGAIN

AJ PRITCHARD has suffered a fresh career blow after losing out on a coveted role on the US version of Dancing With The Stars. The former Strictly Come Dancing star reached the final of spin-off contest Dancing With The Stars: The Next Pro. AJ reached the final alongside Adele Zaikman and Selena Hamilton Credit: ABC AJ has suffered a fresh blow after competing on Dancing With The Stars: The Next Pro Credit: Doug Seeburg But AJ was beaten by Latin dancer Adele Zaikman, who secured the prize of joining the professional line-up for season 35 of the hit American show. Adele beat both AJ and fellow finalist Selena Hamilton during Monday night’s grand final. Sign up for the TV newsletter Thank you! The defeat comes just days after fellow former Strictly professional Oti Mabuse took a savage swipe at AJ and warned he could struggle to win over audiences in America. Oti addressed his stint on The Next Pro during a TikTok Q&A. More on Strictly Come Dancing AJ Pritchard performed with Dancing With The Stars pro Rylee Arnold during the competition Credit: Disney/Vince Valitutti Oti Mabuse took a savage swipe at AJ Pritchard on TikTok Credit: @otimabuse/TikTok While she praised AJ’s talent as a dancer and choreographer, she hinted his behaviour on the spin-off stemmed from insecurity. She said: “Through the show, genuinely, what I’m seeing is… I think he is really scared. “Whatever he’s doing and he’s saying is coming from a place of being scared and wanting to be good enough, which essentially means that maybe he doesn’t feel like he’s good enough.” Oti also questioned whether AJ’s approach would work in the US, pointing out that its ballroom culture was very different to Britain’s. Most read in TV AJ appeared on Strictly from 2016 until his departure in 2019 Credit: Getty Oti Mabuse recently took a savage swipe at her former Strictly co-star Credit: Getty She continued: “I don’t think what worked in the UK will work in America… maybe he might be palatable for another audience.” Oti then issued a brutal warning about his future on the programme. She said: “It’s gonna be tough for him to come back from this because this was his second chance… it’s gonna be tough for a lot of people to now warm to him.” Oti’s jibe followed comments AJ made about the lack of British professionals on Strictly. Speaking to The Sun last year, AJ said: “We’re in the UK, I’m proud to be British and there are so many fantastic boys and girls out there who would love the opportunity. “So regionally, it would support the country.” But Oti hit back by pointing out that some of Strictly’s most popular professionals had come from countries around the world. She claimed AJ had “rubbed a lot of people the wrong way” with his remarks and accused him of being “really horrible” about the BBC show which made him famous. AJ appeared as a professional dancer on Strictly from 2016 until 2019, when he quit the programme. Meanwhile, Oti appeared as a professional dancer on Strictly from 2015 until 2021, winning the show twice before quitting the show. Comment now