BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas 'honoured' over new job away from show

Shirley Ballas has said she is "honoured" as she landed a poignant role away from the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing. Shirley, the head judge of the show, has spoken out on Instagram after being given a new duty with the RSPCA, an animal charity.

"This morning I was honoured to support the @rspca_official with their big, bright and bold new rebrand … the first rebrand in over 50 years," Shirley said. "Charlie and I had a great visit to @gmb but I didn’t quite feel I got to say everything I needed to say.

"As an RSPCA ambassador, animals are so very close to my heart so this is important to me. The RSPCA have launched their For Every Kind campaign and are searching for one million acts of kindness, whether that be picking up litter you see, fundraising, donating money or donating food to an animal food bank for those who need that little extra help with feeding their animals.

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"I was shocked to hear that 90% of people think only their pets have feelings and in fact rats giggle when tickled, chickens can count and cows have best friends. Did you know that?" Shirley went on: "You can find how you can turn your kindness into action by visiting rspca.org.uk and taking the quiz.

"And you can find your local centre online too in case you’d like to visit or volunteer. I visited @rspca_leybourne last week and had a lovely few hours with the dogs, cats, guinea pigs and rabbits. - let’s all get together and support those furry friends that need us. Xxx"

"I’ve supported them for years and I’ve supported thecampbeagle who have been trying to close down MBR Acres in Huntington where beagle puppies are bred to be tortured in unnecessary toxicology experiments, please support thecampbeagle too," a fan replied.

"I loved seeing you on GMB this morning Shirley. I'm so glad you're supporting rspca. They need all the support and profile raising they can get! Let's stamp out animal cruelty. But I agree not enough time was given to this subject and Ed wasted time wittering about rats lol," a second typed.