BBC Strictly's Shirley Ballas hires assistant to 'syphon through' hate messages

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas said she has hired a personal assistant who “syphons through” hateful messages sent to her after previously opening up about cruel trolls who have targeted her online and through the post.The 63-year-old former competitive dancer, who is currently judging the 21st series of the BBC show, has spoken previously about having to deal with some "horrible stuff" including death threats in the mail.Appearing on Channel 5 News on Tuesday, Shirley was asked if she has got better at dealing with the trolls on social media.

In the interview with Dan Walker, who came fifth on Strictly in 2021, she said: “I think with the social media, yes.“This year I’ve taken on Harry as a PA, and also syphons through all those really unbelievable messages that you couldn’t even repeat to a human being.”Discussing how difficult it can be to avoid hateful messages, she added: “Unfortunately they come up, you know, if you’re scrolling or you’re looking or, you know, when I did my Sky challenges for (charity) Calm. "They come up and I’m trying to help people as well, so I don’t want to just ignore all the good people, ’cause there’s more good people than bad people." Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. To raise money for suicide prevention charity Calm, Shirley undertook a Skyatholon challenge in August which involved a zipline, wing walk and 13,000ft skydive.The former ballroom dancer also spoke about her new book Murder On The Dancefloor, co-written by Sheila McClure, which follows dance superstar and world champion Lily Richmond and private investigator Susie Cooper as they try to unveil the identity of the killer.Talking