A Strictly Come Dancing star has been arrested on suspicion of rape, according to reports.
The man in his 30s, who has not been named, was also detained over a separate alleged offence of “non-consensual intimate image abuse”, the Metropolitan police said.
He was detained on Friday after a “third-party allegation of sexual and drug-related offences”.
A BBC spokesperson said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing police investigation.”
A corporation source said the allegations do not involve anyone on this year’s series. They added that the next series of the celebrity dance competition would begin on 20 September as planned.
A statement from the Met said: “On Friday 22 August officers arrested a man in his 30s in east London on suspicion of rape and non-consensual intimate image abuse.
“This is a joint investigation with Hertfordshire constabulary. The arrest follows a third-party allegation of sexual and drug-related offences.” The police urged anyone with any information to contact them, quoting 8479/22AUG, or Crimestoppers anonymously.
Strictly Come Dancing was launched in 2004 and has been the BBC’s most notable weekend entertainment show ever since. The celebrity contestants for the next series were announced this month.
The show has been hit by serious allegations about the behaviour of its performers in recent years. This month it was reported that the BBC had called in lawyers to investigate after claims that two of its stars used cocaine.
The cocaine use allegations were reportedly made in a legal submission by the law firm Russells in March on behalf of the former contestant Wynne Evans, who was dropped by the BBC after apologising for using “inappropriate language” during the launch of the Strictly tour.
It has been a difficult summer for the BBC. It has been criticised for broadcasting the latest series of MasterChef which was filmed before its two presenters were sacked, and last month it admitted that mistakes were made before and during a live Glastonbury broadcast of the punk duo Bob Vylan in which they chanted “death to the IDF”.
Later in July an internal review found a BBC documentary about children in Gaza breached the corporation’s editorial guidelines for accuracy by failing to disclose its child narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
