Thomas Skinner issued a brilliant response to a BBC Look North newsreader on Sunday after they took aim at his participation in Strictly Come Dancing.

On Saturday night, Mr Skinner was revealed to be paired with Amy Dowden for the upcoming series of Strictly, resulting in joyful scenes between the two during the launch programme.

The pair’s joyous reaction to their pairing continued on social media shortly after, with Ms Dowden penning a heartfelt tribute to her celebrity partner ahead of next week’s live show.

However, as Mr Skinner has had to become accustomed to in recent weeks, The Apprentice star’s appearance also resulted in some rather cruel feedback – and newsreader Peter Levy joined the pile-on.

On Saturday evening, the BBC employee took to X where he shared with his 101.2k followers: “I feel sorry for Amy Dowden……”

Mr Levy’s reaction to the Strictly pairing didn’t go unnoticed by Mr Skinner himself, who hit back on Sunday afternoon.

“Don’t feel sorry for Amy, Peter,” Mr Skinner calmly wrote in response. “She is an incredible woman, a fighter, and we’re gonna have a great time together on Strictly.

“In fact, we haven’t stopped laughing. Maybe instead of making daft digs at me, you should be cheering on a brilliant dancer who’s beaten bigger battles that you and I have had to face.”

The former Celebrity MasterChef star went on: “Anyway, you stick to reading the autocue, I’ll stick to learning the cha-cha.

“I will be working my hardest on learning to dance so I don’t let her down. I want to do as well as possible, not just for myself but for her as well. Bosh.”

Mr Levy is yet to respond to Mr Skinner, or any of the X users who felt he was totally out of line for criticising the Strictly star.

As well as Mr Skinner, several X users took to the comments of Mr Levy’s post to brand his words “nasty”, “disgusting”, and “disappointing”.

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“What a nasty thing to say,” one X user wrote while a second mocked: “Ah, the famous impartiality of the BBC.”

A third weighed in: “And this is reason number 673 why I’ve gone from having BBC News in my house pretty much on a loop all day, to NEVER watching BBC current affairs at all anymore.”

“BBC journalist, everyone. Jesus Christ,” a fourth said in disbelief before a fifth concurred: “Disgusting post. Although it shows yet again just infected and infested with leftism the BBC is.”

A sixth echoed: “This is a disappointing post. I’ve seen you many times on Look North, and you seem a nice person, but this post suggests otherwise.”

Mr Skinner has faced his fair share of backlash ever since he was unveiled as a competitor in this year’s edition of Strictly Come Dancing.

Much of the furore has centred on his social media activity, with the 34-year-old regularly using X to voice his proud patriotic views.

Mr Skinner is also no stranger to voicing his opposition to wokeness and lefty politics, and hit headlines this year when he joined Vice President JD Vance for a barbecue during his visit to the UK.

However, the vitriol towards Mr Skinner heightened this month when a former “fling” of his came forward with a story of an affair involving the dad-of-three three and a half years ago.

Don’t feel sorry for Amy, Peter. She is an incredible woman, a fighter, and we’re gonna have a great time together on Strictly. In fact we haven’t stopped laughing. Maybe instead of making daft digs at me, you should be cheering on a brilliant dancer who’s beaten bigger battles…

— Thomas Skinner ⚒ (@iamtomskinner) September 21, 2025

Mr Skinner went public with an apology to his wife and children for the incident that took place back in 2021.

He revealed his wife, Sinead, had forgiven him and they had moved on. However, his opponents have continued to use the story against him.

Mr Skinner addressed the criticism to the launch show on Sunday in a lengthy X post after he saw “people fuming that I’m on Strictly”. He pointed out “the funny thing is that the majority of them got ‘be kind’ written in their bios. You couldn’t make it up.”

In the post, Mr Skinner addressed all of the criticism he’s faced in recent months, from his meeting with Vice President Vance to his private school scholarship and run-ins with the law.

He conceded he was “in a fight I can’t win, but I don’t give up”, and admitted “these last few weeks for me and my family have been horrific”.

However, he ended on an upbeat note. “This country is beautiful. Full of beautiful people. I love it with all my heart. It’s built on graft, pride, community, and family. It’s built on good people from all walks of life. Not people that gave up,” he said.

“So don’t waste your energy on faceless cowards. Don’t let hypocrites win. Whatever battle you’re fighting behind closed doors, don’t give up. Keep pushing.”

He signed off: “If I can keep goin, so can you. We are strong. We are proud. We never give up. Ever. Thank you for all the love and support I’ve been getting! It means the world to me.” (sic)