Speaking in Los Angeles where he is currently judging the US version - Dancing With the Stars - Len insisted: "It's a pack of lies."

The judge showed he hadn't lost his sense of humour about the bad press, joking: "Honestly, I'd rather part with my penis than give up Strictly Come Dancing!"

At a special celebrity football match held at David Beckham's LA Galaxy ground, Len said he'd stopped worrying about what the UK papers say: "I don't care, it's just a load of nonsense really, people write what they want to write. At first I used to get all stressy but what does it matter?"

Fellow judge Bruno Tonioli also came to Len's defence: "We never speak to the press. Len and I are the worst - we don't even have publicists because we just do our job.

"The moment you're in the public eye there is always speculation like this but it doesn't come from us. From what I'm concerned I'm pretty sure he's going to do the show."



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