Denise Van Outen says she had 'grudge' with BBC over reality show

Denise Van Outen has claimed she was dropped from a TV show because she was pregnant and says she had a “grudge” against the BBC about it for a long time.

The television star said she was due to be a judge on Over The Rainbow, the hunt for an undiscovered talent to play Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage production of The Wizard Of Oz.

She says she was axed because she was expecting – although the BBC previously said that was not the case.

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Talking about holding grudges on Steph’s Packed Lunch, Van Outen said: “I did have a situation years ago where I was a judge on one of the BBC shows.”

She went on: “Do you remember the Andrew Lloyd Webber show? Anyway I got dropped from it because I was pregnant.”

The star, who is mum to 11-year-old daughter Betsy, revealed she wasn’t aware of who made the decision.

"But I did kind of hold a grudge with the BBC for quite a long time,” she said.

Van Outen was on the panel of Any Dream Will Do in 2007, which followed the search for a new lead to play Joseph in a revival of Lloyd Webber’s Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

The following year she was on the panel of I’d Do Anything, which searched for cast members for the musical Oliver!

Over The Rainbow aired in 2010, with Lloyd Webber, John Partridge, Charlotte Church and Sheila Hancock on the panel, and there were reports at the time that Van Outen was supposed to have taken part.

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However, at the time the BBC denied Van Outen had been dropped for being pregnant, saying: “Over The Rainbow is a brand new show for BBC1 with a completely new line-up of judges.”

Yahoo has contacted the BBC for comment.

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