Strictly Come Dancing has reportedly 'dropped' a group of musicians after they asked for payment for performing on the spin-off show, It Takes Two.
According to members of the Italian band Amaraterra, the group were approached by BBC producers and asked to appear on an episode of It Takes Two.
However, BBC bosses declined to pay the musicians for their work when requested, explaining that there wasn't 'money in the budget'.
According to The Guardian, who saw emails exchanged between the band and BBC producers, the Amaraterra musicians were offered a free lunch for their performance.
The publication also revealed that the artists were offered a “decent amount of screen time, as well as a mention of your group name,” in exchange for their perofmrnace.
The band then reportedly asked producers whether they could pay the band the amount that artists usually receive - as agreed with the Musicians’ Union for session work.
Amaraterra did not hear back for several days before allegedly learning that they had been dropped from the schedule.
A BBC spokesperson explained to The Guardian that the decision to drop Amaraterra had actually been for 'editorial reasons'.
"As we do with lots of artists, we discussed a proposed performance with Amaraterra for It Takes Two that ultimately didn’t happen for editorial reasons," the statement said.
A representative for Strictly Come Dancing has been contacted by the Mirror Online for comment.
The popular Strictly spin-off show - presented by Rylan Clark-Neal and Zoe Ball - welcomes a host of Strictly contestants past and present to discuss the latest news.
There are is also occasionally live music and performances during the show.
Cassandre Balosso-Bardin, a member of the musical group, also explained to the publication that such 'free exposure' did not mean they could monetise on the performance.
"We won’t get any gigs these days and we won’t sell any albums as we have none to sell, not being able to afford its production … They want us and our expertise, but they won’t pay for it,” she said.
Amaraterra declined to comment when approached by the Mirror.
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